Modified peptides and associated methods of use

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure relates to a modified peptide including (i) an amino acid sequence (X)-GRT-(Y)-TLC-(Z), or (ii) an amino acid sequence having at least 40% sequence identity to the amino acid sequence (X)-GRT-(Y)-TLC-(Z), wherein X, Y, and Z are the same as described in the specification. In this regard, methods for inhibiting the activity of at least one enzyme selected from the group consisting of AKT1 (PKB alpha), AKT2 (PKB beta), MAP3K8 (COT), MST4, AURKB (Aurora B), ROCK1, RPS6KB1 (p70S6K), CDC42 BPA (MRCKA), BRAF, RAF1 (cRAF) Y340D Y341D, SGK (SGK1), MAP4K4 (HGK), AURKA (Aurora A), AURKC (Aurora C), BRAF V599E, CHEK1 (CHK1), GSG2 (Haspin), CHEK2 (CHK2), FGR, IKBKB (IKK beta), CDK7/cyclin H/MNAT1, and CDC42 BPB (MRCKB) and Abl; and inhibiting cell proliferation are also provided, as are methods for preventing or treating cancer or a neurodegenerative disease or disorder.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present disclosure is claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/857,293, filed 5 Jun. 2019 and tilted: MODIFIED PEPTIDES AND ASSOCIATED METHODS OF USE, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

In compliance with 37 C.F.R. 1.52(e)(5), the sequence information contained in electronic file name: ADN0002US2_Sequence_Listing_20AUG2020.txt; size 63 KB; created on: 20 Aug. 2021, is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND 1. Field of the Discovery

The present disclosure generally relates to modified therapeutic polypeptides, their compositions, and methods of administration to an organism in need thereof for treating and/or preventing disease, for example, cancer.

2. Background Information

The AGC serine/threonine protein family of kinases consists of 63 evolutionarily related kinases, including PDK1, PKB/AKT, SGK, PKC, PRK/PKN, MSK, RSK, S6K, PKA, PKG, DMPK, MRCK, ROCK, NDR, LATS, CRIK, MAST, GRK, Sgk494, YANK, Aurora and PLK. The different AGC kinase families share several aspects of their mechanisms of inhibition and activation. The conformation of the catalytic domain of many AGC kinases is regulated by the modulation of the conformation of a regulatory site on the small lobe of the kinase domain, the PIF-pocket. The PIF-pocket acts like an ON-OFF switch in AGC kinases with different modes of regulation, i.e. PDK1, PKB/AKT, LATS and Aurora kinases. Molecular probes stabilizing the PIF-pocket in the active conformation are activators, while compounds stabilizing the disrupted site are allosteric inhibitors. (Leroux et al. (2018) Semin Cancer Biol 48:1-17. Doi: 10.1016).

The serine-threonine kinase AKT (known also as Protein Kinase B) phosphorylates various protein substrates to regulate many key physiological processes, such as cell cycle, glucose metabolism, cell growth and survival, angiogenesis and protein synthesis (Brazil, et al. (2002) Cell 111:293-303). Stimulation of its catalytic activity is triggered by phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase and results from the PtdIns(3,4,5)P-dependent recruitment of AKT, from the cytoplasm to the membrane, as well as the phosphorylation of two regulatory residues, Thr-308 and Ser-473. Phosphorylation of Thr-308, catalyzed by PDK-1, is required for AKT activity, and this activity is augmented, ˜10 fold, by Ser-473 phosphorylation (Alessi, et al. (1996) EMBO J. 15:6541-6551; Brazil, et al. (2002) supra).

Protein Kinase A (PKA) is ubiquitously expressed in mammalian cells and regulates important cellular processes such as growth, development, memory, metabolism, gene expression, and lipolysis. The PKA holoenzyme exists as an inactive complex and is composed of two catalytic (PKAc) and regulatory (PKA RI & RII) subunits. Binding of cAMP facilitates the dissociation and activation of catalytic subunits. Each catalytic subunit is composed of a small and large lobe, with the active site forming a cleft between the two lobes. The small lobe provides the binding site for ATP, and the large lobe provides catalytic residues and a docking surface for peptide/protein substrates. The activation loop in the large lobe contains a phosphorylation site, Thr-197, which is essential for catalysis (Adams, et al. (1995) Biochemistry 34:2447-2454).

Deregulation of AKT signaling pathway is known to be directly associated with some of the most prevalent and incurable human disorders such as cancer, neurodegenerative and psychiatric brain disorders, and infectious diseases (Blain and Massague (2002) Nat. Med. 8:1076-1078; Brazil, et al. (2004) Trends Biochem. Sci. 29:233-242; Chen, et al. (2003) Cell 113:457-468; Colin, et al. (2005) Eur. J. Neurosci. 21:1478-1488; Emamian, et al. (2004) Nat. Genetics 36:131-137; Griffin, et al. (2005) J. Neurochem. 93:105-117; Liang, et al. (2002) Nat. Med. 8:1153-1160; Shin, et al. (2002) Nat. Med. 8:1145-1152; Viglietto, et al. (2002) Nat. Med. 8:1136-1144; Ji & Liu (2008) Recent Pat Biotechnol. (3):218-26). It is well-established that the hyperactivity of AKT is part of the pathologic process in several types of the most prevalent human malignancies (Brazil, et al. (2004) supra), including breast cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer, gastrointestinal tumors, pancreatic cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, thyroid cancer, and central nervous system malignancies (such as glioblastoma and gliomas). Association of AKT function with several neurodegenerative brain disorders such as the Alzheimer's disease (AD), Huntington's disease (HD), spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 (SCA1), and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), have also been reported (Griffin, et al. (2005) supra; Colin, et al. (2005) supra; Saudou, et al. (1998) Cell 95:55-66; Chen, et al. (2003) supra; Emamian, et al. (2003) Neuron 38:375-387; Kaspar, et al. (2003) Science 301:839-842). Moreover, several studies have shown that activating PI3K-AKT signaling is a strategy used by viruses to slow down apoptosis and prolong viral replication in both acute and persistent infection. It is also probable that prevention of cell death facilitates virus-induced carcinogenesis. Accumulating evidence suggests that the activity of PI3K or AKT is critical for survival of a few viruses, including HIV and other type of viruses (Ji & Liu (2008) Recent Pat Biotechnol. (3):218-26; Chugh, et al. (2008) Retrovirology vol. 5 11. doi:10.1186/1742-4690-5-11)

An impairment in the AKT signaling pathway is also involved in schizophrenia (Emamian, et al. (2004) supra). The genetic association of AKT1 gene with schizophrenia has been identified in European (Schwab, et al. (2005) Biol. Psychiatry 58:446-450) and Japanese (Ikeda, et al. (2004) Biol. Psychiatry 56:698-700) populations. Moreover, the PKA signaling pathway has been found to mediate the interaction of DISC1 and PDE4B, genetic factors known to be associated with higher risk for schizophrenia (Millar, et al. (2005) Science 310:1187-1191).

Given the association of AKT with some of the most prevalent and incurable human diseases, including cancer, infectious diseases, neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders, there is a need in the art to identify agents which interact with and modulate the activity of AKT. The present disclosure meets this need in the art.

SUMMARY

Presently described are active therapeutic peptides that can target the catalytic activity of several mammalian kinases, including several members of the AGC family of kinases, in order to modulate a wide variety of cellular functions, including but not limited to cell proliferation, cell survival, cell death, etc.

In an aspect, the disclosure provides a modified peptide including (i) an amino acid sequence (X)-GRT-(Y)-TLC-(Z) (such as SEQ ID NO:113), or (ii) an amino acid sequence having at least 40% sequence identity to the amino acid sequence (X)-GRT-(Y)-TLC-(Z) (such as SEQ ID NO:113). In these formulae, X is a natural amino acid, a non-natural amino acid, a chemical modification of a natural or non-natural amino acid, an acetyl group, a lipid group, or a combination thereof; Y is a natural amino acid, a non-natural amino acid, a chemical modification of a natural or non-natural amino acid, or a combination thereof; and Z is a natural amino acid, a non-natural amino acid, a chemical modification of a natural or non-natural amino acid, an amine group, or a combination thereof.

The disclosure also provides modified peptides having the formula (X)-(seq1)-(Y)-(seq2)-(Z) or an amino acid sequence having at least 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90% or more sequence identity to the amino acid sequence (X)-(seq1)-(Y)-(seq2)-(Z). In these formulae, seq1 is GRT, KGRT (SEQ ID NO:118), VKGRT (SEQ ID NO:119), RVKGRT (SEQ ID NO:120), KRVKGRT (SEQ ID NO:121), (Orn)-RVKGRT (SEQ ID NO:122), or AKRVKGRT (SEQ ID NO:123); seq2 is TLC, TLCG (SEQ ID NO:124), TLCGR (SEQ ID NO:125), TLCGRPE (SEQ ID NO:126), TLCGRPEY (SEQ ID NO:127), or TLCGRPE-(4-Cl-Phe) (SEQ ID NO:128); X is a natural amino acid, a non-natural amino acid, a chemical modification of a natural or non-natural amino acid, an acetyl group, a lipid group, or a combination thereof; Y is a natural amino acid, a non-natural amino acid, a chemical modification of a natural or non-natural amino acid, or a combination thereof; and Z is a natural amino acid, a non-natural amino acid, a chemical modification of a natural or non-natural amino acid, an amine group, or a combination thereof. Examples of such sequences are provided in SEQ ID NO:105 to SEQ ID NO:117.

Also included are methods for inhibiting the activity of at least one enzyme selected from the group consisting of AKT1 (PKB alpha), AKT2 (PKB beta), MAP3K8 (COT), MST4, AURKB (Aurora B), ROCK1, RPS6KB1 (p70S6K), CDC42 BPA (MRCKA), BRAF, RAF1 (cRAF) Y340D Y341D, SGK (SGK1), MAP4K4 (HGK), AURKA (Aurora A), AURKC (Aurora C), BRAF V599E, CHEK1 (CHK1), GSG2 (Haspin), CHEK2 (CHK2), FGR, IKBKB (IKK beta), CDK7/cyclin H/MNAT1, and CDC42 BPB (MRCKB), and Abl; and inhibiting cell proliferation are also provided, as are methods for preventing or treating cancer, infectious diseases, or a neurodegenerative disease or disorder.

The preceding general areas of utility are given by way of example only and are not intended to be limiting on the scope of the present disclosure and appended claims. Additional objects and advantages associated with the compositions, methods, and processes of the present disclosure will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art in light of the instant claims, description, and examples. For example, the various aspects and embodiments of the present disclosure may be utilized in numerous combinations, all of which are expressly contemplated by the present description. These additional advantages objects and embodiments are expressly included within the scope of the present disclosure. The publications and other materials used herein to illuminate the background of the present disclosure, and in particular cases, to provide additional details respecting the practice, are incorporated by reference.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated into and form a part of the specification, illustrate several embodiments of the present disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the present disclosure. The drawings are only for the purpose of illustrating an embodiment of the present disclosure and are not to be construed as limiting the present disclosure. Further objects, features and advantages of the inventions of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying figures showing illustrative embodiments of the present disclosure, in which:

FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B. Intracellular molecular targets of the Exemplary compounds: (1A) Representative immunoblots from a cell-based assays by probing with antibodies that recognize a PI3K-P110, or phospho-PDK1 (Ser-241), total AKT1, or phospho-P53 (Ser-46). Cells based assays after treating the U251 human glioblastoma cells with different concentrations of vehicle, or an Exemplary compound from 5 uM to 40 uM at different time intervals of 30 min, 2 hours or 24 hours. (1B) Representative immunoblots of cell based assays similar to A probed with a different set of primary antibodies including phospho-AKT1 (Thr-308), p-CRAF (Ser-259), phospho-Aurora A (Thr-288), or total Aurora A.

FIG. 2 . Apoptosis and survival of U251 glioblastoma cells at different time intervals following the treatment with an Exemplary compound: Equal number of U251 human glioblastoma cells (5×10⁵) were plated on coverslips and treated with either vehicle (top panel) or with an Exemplary compound (bottom panels) for 20 minutes, one, two or three days. Fluorescent TUNEL (green) assay was performed to visualize the apoptotic cells and DAPI staining was used to visualize the nuclei of all cells (blue). Indirect immunofluorescent staining of Cleaved-Caspase 3 (red) was performed as another marker of apoptosis. Cells treated with the vehicle grew to a much higher confluency compared to those treated with the Exemplary compound (compared the DAPI signal of the top and bottom panels). The confocal image (20×) is the same Z step showing three channels separately (the first three columns) and the merged image (last column). The images show a time dependent increase in apoptosis rate of the cells after treatment, after 3 days of treatment almost 100% of cells Exemplary compound are apoptotic shown by both Tunel (green) and increased Cleaved-Caspase 3 (red).

FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B. Quantitative analysis of the cell density and apoptosis rate at different time intervals: Equal cell numbers were plated on coverslips and were treated with an Exemplary compound and vehicle for different time intervals. Cells were stained with DAPI and Tunel and analyzed with confocal microscope. FIG. 3A histogram bars reflect the average number of total cells left on coverslips (DAPI positive cells) counted on five separate confocal fields. FIG. 3B histogram bars reflect the average percent of apoptotic cells calculated by dividing the number of Tunel positive cells to the total cells left on coverslips (DAPI positive cells) counted on five separate confocal fields. Cells treated with the vehicle constantly showed a higher density over time that reached to approximately full confluency at 72 hours (not shown), while cells treated with the Exemplary compound consistently showed a significant decrease in the cell density over time (3A) and a time-dependent increase in the number of apoptotic cells (3B) to the extent that almost 100% of the cells were apoptotic after 72 hours of treatment.

FIG. 4 : The IC-50 of the Exemplary compounds in human breast, lung, blood and skin cancer cells: A representative plate of metastatic human breast cancer cells (BT-549 and MDA-MB-468), human acute promyelocytic leukemia (HL-60), a Multiple Myeloma cancer cell line (RPMI-8226), a small-cell lung cancer cell line (DMS-114), a human melanoma cancer cell line (SK-ML-5) after three days treatment with three Exemplary compounds, the vehicle (PBS), or controls of other kinase inhibitor compounds in clinical trial (MK-2206), or in clinical use (Imatinib or Gleevec), serially diluted from 50 μM to 0.7 μM. This experiment shows the superior efficacy and a nano-molar range of IC-50 of the exemplary compounds compared to the existing class of drugs in the market or in latest stages of the clinical trials.

FIG. 5A, FIG. 5B, and FIG. 5C: Inhibition of tumor growth followed by local administration of an Exemplary compound in (5A) an animal models of brain tumors (GBM), (5B) an animal model of liver cancer (HCC), and an animal model of metastatic breast cancer: Percentage change in tumor sizes at different time intervals after intratumoral injections (on days 0, 3, 7, 11, 14, 17, and 20) of vehicle (n=8) or the Exemplary compound (n=8) treated animals, p values reflect the statistical difference between the average tumor size of two groups at the same time intervals, obtained from the Student-T Test or the Mann-Whitney Test.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference will now be made in detail to exemplary embodiments, examples of which are illustrated in the present description. In this regard, the present exemplary embodiments may have different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the descriptions set forth herein. Accordingly, the exemplary embodiments are merely described below, by referring to the figures, to explain aspects of the present description. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. Expressions such as “at least one of,” when preceding a list of elements, modify the entire list of elements and do not modify the individual elements of the list.

It will be understood that, although the terms first, second, third, etc., may be used herein to describe various elements, components, regions, layers, and/or sections, these elements, components, regions, layers, and/or sections should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element, component, region, layer, or section from another element, component, region, layer, or section. Thus, a first element, component, region, layer, or section discussed below could be termed a second element, component, region, layer, or section without departing from the teachings of the present embodiments.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” or “includes” and/or “including” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, regions, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, regions, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

“About” as used herein is inclusive of the stated value and means within an acceptable range of deviation for the particular value as determined by one of ordinary skill in the art, considering the measurement in question and the error associated with measurement of the particular quantity (i.e., the limitations of the measurement system). For example, “about” can mean within one or more standard deviations, or within ±30%, 20%, 10%, 5% of the stated value.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which the present disclosure belongs. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and the present disclosure, and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

AKT has emerged as the focal point of many signal transduction pathways, regulating multiple cellular processes such as glucose metabolism, transcription, apoptosis, cell proliferation, angiogenesis, and cell motility (Brazil, et al. (2002) supra). Besides functioning as a kinase of many substrates involved in these processes, it forms complexes with other proteins that are not substrates, wherein the other proteins modulate AKT activity and function (Brazil, et al. (2002) supra).

As used here, the terms “peptide,” “polypeptide,” and “protein” are used interchangeably, and refer to any molecule having at least two amino acids, amino acid analogs or derivatives linked by a peptide bond or other covalent bond.

A physical interaction between AKT and PKAc has been identified. Full-length PKAc was found to potently inhibit the catalytic activity of AKT, while active AKT increased the catalytic activity of PKA through a mechanism that increased the phosphorylation level of PKAc at Thr-197. Unexpectedly, short PKAc fragments could also modulate AKT. Some peptides were found to activate AKT, while others inhibited AKT activity. In particular, a PKAc fragment flanking Thr-197 of PKAc, designated herein as ZaTa, was sufficient to potently inhibit AKT in vitro and in vivo. ZaTa penetrated into the cell, co-localized with AKT, inhibited and redistributed AKT within the cell, and changed the expression pattern of PKAc. ZaTa also disrupted the AKT-PKAc complex, both in vitro and in vivo, which resulted in substantial changes in neurite and axon morphology. Treatment of cultured cells with ZaTa caused a dose-dependent inhibition of cell proliferation as well. Furthermore, reducing PKAc protein level increased the AKT protein level in vitro and in vivo. Accordingly, PKAc and fragments thereof were found useful for modulating AKT signal transduction pathways involved in regulating glucose metabolism, transcription, apoptosis, cell proliferation, angiogenesis, and cell motility thereby facilitating the prevention or treatment of cancer, infectious diseases, autoimmune, neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders.

To identify proteins that directly interact with AKT, co-immunoprecipitation assays were performed to purify AKT from the brain lysate. Co-immunoprecipitated proteins were separated by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and analyzed by mass spectrometry. Using this approach, the catalytic subunit of PKA (PKAc) was identified as an AKT interacting protein. In several independent co-immunoprecipitation experiments using two different antibodies that recognized distinct epitopes on the AKT sequence, i.e., one antibody recognized phosphorylated AKT at Ser-473 and the other antibody was raised against the pleckstrin homology (PH) domain of AKT, PKAc was detected in complex with AKT as determined by western blot analysis with an antibody against PKAc. Unexpectedly, a higher amount of PKAc was immunoprecipitated in complex with AKT when the sample was treated with cAMP, which increased the level of unbound PKAc to the regulatory subunits. These data demonstrate a physical interaction between endogenous PKAc and AKT, wherein the interaction occurs after activation of PKA.

To demonstrate that PKAc and AKT co-localize, subcellular localization of PKAc and AKT was analyzed by immunofluorescence confocal microscopy. Neuroblastoma 2a (N2a) neurons expressing an endogenous level of AKT and PKAc were double-labeled with anti-AKT (PH domain) and anti-PKAc antibodies. The strongest signal for the endogenous level of both molecules in cultured N2a cells was detected along the neurite and on the neurite outgrowth zone. However, NG-108 neurons, a somatic cell hybrid of glioblastoma and neuroblastoma, showed a more diffuse pattern of co-localization in the cytoplasm and a weaker signal in neurites. These data confirmed the results of the co-immunoprecipitation experiments and indicated a role for the AKT and PKAc interaction in the growth and branching of neuronal cell processes. The co-localization of AKT and PKAc in non-neuronal cell lines derived from the normal and malignant cells of human breast tissue was also determined. The cell lines analyzed were HTB-126 cells derived from an infiltrating ductal carcinoma, HTB-125 cells derived from normal breast tissue peripheral to the infiltrating ductal carcinoma, and CRL-2865 cells derived from the pleural effusion metastatic site of a patient with breast ductal carcinoma. In these cells, endogenous AKT co-localized with the endogenous PKAc in specific subcellular compartments of both normal and malignant human breast cells. AKT appeared to co-localize with PKAc in a microtubule-like structure adjacent to nuclei (both HTB-125 and HTB-126) and on the cell membrane (HTB-125). These data indicated that the AKT-PKAc interaction was not specific to neuronal cells and occurred in normal and malignant cell lines derived from human tissue as well.

To evaluate the significance of the AKT-PKAc interaction, kinase inhibitors were employed. Highly selective and well-characterized PKA inhibitors and activators are well-known in the art. Thus, cultured neurons were treated with the selective PKA inhibitor, H-89, and the potent PKA activator, forskolin, and AKT activity was analyzed. Treatment with the PKA inhibitor caused a dose-dependent increase in the activity of AKT, whereas the PKA activator had an opposing effect, measured by the activation-dependent phosphorylation level of AKT at both Thr-308 and Ser-473 sites. These findings indicated that the level of AKT activity in cultured neurons was tightly and inversely correlated with the level of PKA activity.

Since the observed effect of H-89 and forskolin on AKT activity in cultured cells could be interpreted as the result of the regulatory interference of other signaling pathways, in vitro analysis was carried using purified, active forms of AKT and PKAc to examine the direct result of this interaction on the kinase catalytic activity. When a full-length, active PKAc was added to AKT kinase assays containing active AKT as the kinase and Ser-9 GSK-3 glutathione (GST) fusion protein as the substrate, the kinetic activity of AKT was dramatically reduced. This decrease in the catalytic activity of AKT by PKAc was inhibited when the PKA inhibitor was added to the reaction mixture. This observation indicated that the activity of PKA was required for its inhibitory effect on AKT. The decrease in the catalytic activity of AKT by PKAc was also observed with two mutants and active forms of AKT1, one with a deletion in the PH domain and the other one with a Ser473Asp mutation. As with wild-type AKT, the inhibitory effect of PKAc on the mutants was reversed in the presence of the PKA inhibitor peptide. This indicated that the PH domain of AKT, as well as the phosphorylation at Ser-473, were not required for the inhibitory effect of PKAc toward AKT. Further, the same inhibitory effect was observed with active PKAc purified from bovine tissue, or with human PKAc expressed in Sf9 cells, regardless of the presence or absence of phosphatase inhibitors in the kinase reaction.

The effect of AKT on the catalytic activity of PKA was further analyzed using an in vitro kinase assay containing PKAc as the kinase and DARPP-32 as the substrate. PKA phosphorylates DARPP-32 at the Thr-34 site, converting it into a potent inhibitor of protein phosphatase-1 (Huang, et al. (1999) J. Biol. Chem. 274:7870-7878). In contrast to the inhibitory role of PKAc on the AKT catalytic activity, addition of the active AKT to the PKA kinase assay increased the catalytic activity of PKAc. This was determined by measuring the phosphorylation level of DARPP-32 at Thr-34, using a phospho-specific antibody against this site. Unexpectedly, the increase in the PKAc catalytic activity was accompanied by an increase in the phosphorylation level of PKAc at Thr-197, a residue located in the activation loop of PKAc which is essential for proper biological function and possibly cell motility (Abel, et al. (2001) supra; Cheng, et al. (1998) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 95:9849-9854). While autophosphorylation and phosphorylation by PDK-1 have been described as possible mechanisms for this phosphorylation of Thr-197 in PKAc (Moore, et al. (2002) J. Biol. Chem. 277:47878-47884), the in vitro data disclosed herein indicates that AKT phosphorylates Thr-197 of PKAc. Similar opposing effects on the catalytic activity were observed when kinase reactions were conducted in the presence of the both PKAc and AKT specific substrates in the same reaction tube. In control assays, neither the phosphorylation of Ser-9 GSK-3 GST fusion protein by PKAc, nor the phosphorylation at Thr-34 of the recombinant DARPP-32 by AKT was observed.

Unlike PKAc and protein kinase C (PKC) for which potent inhibitor peptides are readily available and widely used, inhibitors of AKT were generally lacking until recent years (Brazil, et al. (2004) supra). It has been empirically shown that the use of PKA mutants can facilitate the structural design of more selective inhibitors for AKT (Breitenlechner, et al. (2005) J. Med. Chem. 48:163-170). Moreover, optimal substrate motifs for AKT have been modified to design AKT inhibitors (Obata, et al. (2000) J. Biol. Chem. 275:36108-36115). Because the full-length PKAc protein inhibited the catalytic activity of AKT, a peptide library based on the human (GENBANK Accession No. NP_002721; SEQ ID NO:1) and bovine (GENBANK Accession No. CAA47627; SEQ ID NO:2) PKAc protein sequences was designed and synthesized. This library contained 96 overlapping peptides (Table 1), covering the full-length protein sequence of human and bovine PKAc from the N- to C-terminus. The library was extensively screened to identify fragments of PKAc that mediated the inhibitory effect of PKAc toward AKT.

TABLE 1 Exemplary Compounds Molec- SEQ Pep- ular ID tide Weight Sequence NO: 1 1577.9 M-G-N-A-A-A-A-K-K-G-S-E-Q-E-S-V 8 2 1651 A-A-K-K-G-S-E-Q-E-S-V-K-E-F-L 9 3 1651 G-S-E-Q-E-S-V-K-E-F-L-A-K-A-K 10 4 1754.2 E-S-V-K-E-F-L-A-K-A-K-E-D-F-L 11 5 1753.3 E-F-L-A-K-A-K-E-D-F-L-K-K-W 12 6 1775.2 A-K-A-K-E-D-F-L-K-K-W-E-N-P-A 13 7 1791 E-D-F-L-K-K-W-E-N-P-A-Q-N-T-A 14 8 1536.7 K-K-W-E-N-P-A-Q-N-T-A-H-L 15 9 1670.7 W-E-N-P-A-Q-N-T-A-H-L-D-Q-F 16 10 1768 P-A-Q-N-T-A-H-L-D-Q-F-E-R-I-K 17 11 1571.9 T-A-H-L-D-Q-F-E-R-I-K-T-L 18 12 1849.3 H-L-D-Q-F-E-R-I-K-T-L-G-T-G-S-F 19 13 1652.2 E-R-I-K-T-L-G-T-G-S-F-G-R-V-M 20 14 1603.1 T-L-G-T-G-S-F-G-R-V-M-L-V-K-H 21 15 1361.8 G-S-F-G-R-V-M-L-V-K-H-M 22 16 1843.2 S-F-G-R-V-M-L-V-K-H-M-E-T-G-N-H 23 17 1790.2 M-L-V-K-H-M-E-T-G-N-H-Y-A-M-K 24 18 1788.2 H-M-E-T-G-N-H-Y-A-M-K-I-L-D-K 25 19 1744.2 G-N-H-Y-A-M-K-I-L-D-K-Q-K-V-V 26 20 1642.3 A-M-K-I-L-D-K-Q-K-V-V-K-L-K 27 21 1819.3 I-L-D-K-Q-K-V-V-K-L-K-Q-I-E-H 28 22 1692.1 K-Q-K-V-V-K-L-K-Q-I-E-H-T-L 29 23 1835.2 V-V-K-L-K-Q-I-E-H-T-L-N-E-K-R 30 24 1821.2 K-Q-I-E-H-T-L-N-E-K-R-I-L-Q-A 31 25 1683 H-T-L-N-E-K-R-I-L-Q-A-V-N-F 32 26 1788.2 N-E-K-R-I-L-Q-A-V-N-F-P-F-L-V 33 27 1778.3 I-L-Q-A-V-N-F-P-F-L-V-K-L-E-F 34 28 1715.2 V-N-F-P-F-L-V-K-L-E-F-S-F-K 35 29 1898.4 P-F-L-V-K-L-E-F-S-F-K-D-N-S-N-L 36 30 1838.3 L-E-F-S-F-K-D-N-S-N-L-Y-M-V-M 37 31 1753.1 F-K-D-N-S-N-L-Y-M-V-M-E-Y-V 38 32 1834.2 N-S-N-L-Y-M-V-M-E-Y-V-P-G-G-E-M 39 33 1727.1 M-V-M-E-Y-V-P-G-G-E-M-F-S-H-L 40 34 1662.1 Y-V-P-G-G-E-M-F-S-H-L-R-R-I 41 35 1663.2 G-G-E-M-F-S-H-L-R-R-I-G-R-F 42 36 1870.3 M-F-S-H-L-R-R-I-G-R-F-S-E-P-H 43 37 1905.4 L-R-R-I-G-R-F-S-E-P-H-A-R-F-Y 44 38 1750.1 G-R-F-S-E-P-H-A-R-F-Y-A-A-Q-I 45 39 1763.1 E-P-H-A-R-F-Y-A-A-Q-I-V-L-T-F 46 40 1871.3 R-F-Y-A-A-Q-I-V-L-T-F-E-Y-L-H 47 41 1762.2 A-Q-I-V-L-T-F-E-Y-L-H-S-L-D-L 48 42 1783.3 L-T-F-E-Y-L-H-S-L-D-L-I-Y-R 49 43 1778.3 E-Y-L-H-S-L-D-L-I-Y-R-D-L-K 50 44 1826.3 H-S-L-D-L-I-Y-R-D-L-K-P-E-N-L 51 45 1600.2 L-I-Y-R-D-L-K-P-E-N-L-L-I 52 46 1965.4 Y-R-D-L-K-P-E-N-L-L-I-D-Q-Q-G-Y 53 47 1629.9 P-E-N-L-L-I-D-Q-Q-G-Y-I-Q-V 54 48 1653 L-L-I-D-Q-Q-G-Y-I-Q-V-T-D-F 55 49 1717 D-Q-Q-G-Y-I-Q-V-T-D-F-G-F-A-K 56 50 1672.1 Y-I-Q-V-T-D-F-G-F-A-K-R-V-K 57 51 1768.2 V-T-D-F-G-F-A-K-R-V-K-G-R-T-W 58 52 1520 G-F-A-K-R-V-K-G-R-T-W-T-L 59 53 1966.4 A-K-R-V-K-G-R-T-W-T-L-C-G-T-P-E-Y 60 54 1510.8 R-T-W-T-L-C-G-T-P-E-Y-L-A 61 55 1706.1 W-T-L-C-G-T-P-E-Y-L-A-P-E-I-I 62 56 1531 G-T-P-E-Y-L-A-P-E-I-I-L-S-K 63 57 1738.3 E-Y-L-A-P-E-I-I-L-S-K-G-Y-N-K 64 58 1733.2 P-E-I-I-L-S-K-G-Y-N-K-A-V-D-W 65 59 1651.1 L-S-K-G-Y-N-K-A-V-D-W-W-A-L 66 60 1705.2 G-Y-N-K-A-V-D-W-W-A-L-G-V-L-I 67 61 1737.2 A-V-D-W-W-A-L-G-V-L-I-Y-E-M-A 68 62 1557.1 W-A-L-G-V-L-I-Y-E-M-A-A-G-Y 69 63 1675.2 G-V-L-I-Y-E-M-A-A-G-Y-P-P-F-F 70 64 1363.7 Y-E-M-A-A-G-Y-P-P-F-F-A 71 65 1654 E-M-A-A-G-Y-P-P-F-F-A-D-Q-P-I 72 66 1656 G-Y-P-P-F-F-A-D-Q-P-I-Q-I-Y 73 67 1808.2 P-F-F-A-D-Q-P-I-Q-I-Y-E-K-I-V 74 68 1717.1 D-Q-P-I-Q-I-Y-E-K-I-V-S-G-K-V 75 69 1680.2 I-Q-I-Y-E-K-I-V-S-G-K-V-R-F 76 70 1794.2 Y-E-K-I-V-S-G-K-V-R-F-P-S-H-F 77 71 1663 V-S-G-K-V-R-F-P-S-H-F-S-S-D-L 78 72 1761.2 V-R-F-P-S-H-F-S-S-D-L-K-D-L-L 79 73 1758.3 S-H-F-S-S-D-L-K-D-L-L-R-N-L-L 80 74 1755.3 S-D-L-K-D-L-L-R-N-L-L-Q-V-D-L 81 75 1844.4 D-L-L-R-N-L-L-Q-V-D-L-T-K-R-F 82 76 1759.3 N-L-L-Q-V-D-L-T-K-R-F-G-N-L-K 83 77 1561 V-D-L-T-K-R-F-G-N-L-K-N-G-V 84 78 1704.2 T-K-R-F-G-N-L-K-N-G-V-N-D-I-K 85 79 1737.1 G-N-L-K-N-G-V-N-D-I-K-N-H-K-W 86 80 1542.8 N-G-V-N-D-I-K-N-H-K-W-F-A 87 81 1875.1 V-N-D-I-K-N-H-K-W-F-A-T-T-D-W 88 82 1894.3 K-N-H-K-W-F-A-T-T-D-W-I-A-I-Y 89 83 1898.3 W-F-A-T-T-D-W-I-A-I-Y-Q-R-K-V 90 84 1837.2 T-D-W-I-A-I-Y-Q-R-K-V-E-A-P-F 91 85 1807.3 A-I-Y-Q-R-K-V-E-A-P-F-I-P-K-F 92 86 1459.9 R-K-V-E-A-P-F-I-P-K-F-K 93 87 1630.1 K-V-E-A-P-F-I-P-K-F-K-G-P-G-D 94 88 1652.1 P-F-I-P-K-F-K-G-P-G-D-T-S-N-F 95 89 1590.9 K-F-K-G-P-G-D-T-S-N-F-D-D-Y 96 90 1816.9 G-P-G-D-T-S-N-F-D-D-Y-E-E-E-E-I 97 91 1845 S-N-F-D-D-Y-E-E-E-E-I-R-V-S-I 98 92 1752.9 D-Y-E-E-E-E-I-R-V-S-I-N-E-K 99 93 1633.9 E-E-E-I-R-V-S-I-N-E-K-C-G-K 100 94 1886.3 I-R-V-S-I-N-E-K-C-G-K-E-F-S-E-F 101 95 1764 E-D-F-L-K-K-W-E-S-P-A-Q-N-T-A 102 96 1509.7 K-K-W-E-S-P-A-Q-N-T-A-H-L 103 One letter codes used herein include: A, Alanine; R, Arginine; N, Asparagine; D, Aspartate; C, Cysteine; E, Glutamate; Q, Glutamine; G, Glycine; H, Histidine; I, Isoleucine; L, Leucine; K, Lysine; M, Methionine; F, Phenylalanine; P, Proline; S, Serine; T, Threonine; W, Tryptophan; Y, Tyrosine; and V, Valine.

Unexpectedly, individual peptides in the library exhibited significant inhibitory effects toward AKT. These peptides included peptide 49 (SEQ ID NO:56), 53 (SEQ ID NO:60), 62 (SEQ ID NO:69), 63 (SEQ ID NO:70) and 64 (SEQ ID NO:71). Combinations of consecutive overlapping peptide fragments were also assayed for an effect on the catalytic activity of AKT. A significant inhibitory effect was also observed when peptides 25 through 36 were combined (i.e., SEQ ID NOs:32-43), peptides 37 through 48 were combined (i.e., SEQ ID NOs:44-55), peptides 49 through 60 were combined (i.e., SEQ ID NOs:56-67), and peptides 61 through 72 were combined (i.e., SEQ ID NOs:68-79).

Of particular interest with regard to inhibitory activity toward AKT was peptide Ala-Lys-Arg-Val-Lys-Gly-Arg-Thr-Trp-Thr-Leu-Cys-Gly-Thr-Pro-Glu-Tyr (SEQ ID NO:60) which flanked the Thr-197 phosphorylation site of PKAc. This peptide, designated ZaTa, was sufficient to potently inhibit the in vitro catalytic activity of AKT. The phosphorylation level of Ser-9 GSK-3 GST substrate was significantly reduced after adding the ZaTa peptide to the AKT1 kinase assay as determined by separating the in vitro kinase assay products by SDS-PAGE and western blot analysis with a phospho-specific antibody which specifically recognizes phosphorylated GSK-3β at Ser-9. Furthermore, the inhibitory effect of ZaTa peptide was compared with an adjacent peptide (Gly-Phe-Ala-Lys-Arg-Val-Lys-Gly-Arg-Thr-Trp-Thr-Leu; SEQ ID NO:59), a peptide that overlaps with the 11 N-terminal amino acid residues of the ZaTa peptide and carries the Thr-197 phosphorylation site. In this assay, the level of incorporation of γ-³²P into Ser-21 GSK-3β substrate peptide was used as the measure of AKT1 in vitro catalytic activity. While the adjacent overlapping peptide was not able to inhibit AKT1, ZaTa peptide potently inhibited AKT1 catalytic activity in vitro (IC₅₀˜0.1 ZaTa peptide itself was not a substrate for AKT, as determined by control kinase reactions that contained this peptide and AKT only. This indicated that phosphorylation at Thr-197 by AKT itself was not required for the inhibition of AKT by PKAc and the amino acid sequence, biochemical characteristics and/or structure flanking the Thr-197 site plays a role in inhibiting AKT. ZaTa peptide, which is derived from the native inhibitor of AKT, i.e., PKAc, potently inhibited AKT and in an independent series of kinase assays did not exhibit any inhibitory effect on the catalytic activity of PKAc, which, like AKT, is a member of the AGC family of kinases.

Similar to its in vitro inhibitory activity, the ZaTa peptide fragment was also able to potently and efficiently inhibit AKT in the brain. After the stereotactic injection of ZaTa peptide, a decrease in the phosphorylation level of AKT substrates in the striatum of a brain hemisphere was observed as compared to the other hemisphere that was injected with DMSO as the vehicle. These in vivo immunofluorescence results were also confirmed by western blot analyses, which showed a significant decrease in the phosphorylation level of AKT substrates in vivo one hour after the stereotactic injection of ZaTa peptide. As a specific substrate, the phosphorylation level of GSK-3β at Ser-9 was also evaluated. A specific reduction of the phosphorylation level of GSK-3β at Ser-9 was observed after the stereotactic injection of the ZaTa peptide into the striatum of one hemisphere, compared to the other hemisphere injected with DMSO as the vehicle. The decrease was specific to the AKT phosphorylation site on GSK-3β at Ser-9, since a change in the phosphorylation level of GSK-3β at Tyr-216 or GSK-3a at Tyr-279 was not observed. Moreover, the in vivo reduction of the phosphorylation of AKT substrates was more obvious at the injection site, since a significant change in the phosphorylation of AKT substrates in the frontal cortex or cerebellum between the two hemispheres was not observed. These data not only confirmed the inhibitory effect of ZaTa peptide on the AKT catalytic activity in vivo, but also demonstrated the efficient distribution and absorption of the ZaTa peptide throughout brain tissue.

To test the specificity/selectivity of ZaTa as the inhibitor of AKT1 versus the other major kinases, a series of in vitro kinase assays was performed at IC₅₀ for AKT1 and at ten times higher concentrations. A panel of the following 32 kinases was first tested in vitro using the active form of each kinase and a specific substrate: AKT2, AKT3, PKA, PKCα, PKCγ, PI3Kβ, PI3Kδ, PI3Kγ, SGK, PAK2, PAK3, SAPK2/p38, Abl, CaMKII, CDK1/cyclinB, CDK5/p35, CK1, CK2, CSK, GSK3α, GSK3β, JNK1α1, MAPK1, p70S6K, PDGFRα, PDGFRβ, PDK1, PKG1α, TrkB, JAK2, JAK3, and Syk. At IC₅₀ for AKT1 (0.1 μM), ZaTa showed no significant inhibition on any of the above kinases in vitro. However, at ten times higher concentration, ZaTa inhibited AKT2 (63%), PI3Kδ (72%), p70S6K (64%), SGK (73%), PAK3 (83%), JAK3 (79%), TrkB (84%), and Abl (42%). To confirm the in vitro inhibitory effect on these kinases in cells, a cell-based assay was used to determine the effect of labeled ZaTa on the phosphorylation levels of well-known intracellular substrates for each kinase (Zipfel, et al. (2004) Curr. Biol. 14:1222-1231; Wang, et al. (2003) Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 410:7-15; King, et al. (1998) Nature 396:180-183; Rangone, et al. (2004) Eur. J. Neurosci. 19:273-279; Middlemas, et al. (1994) J. Biol. Chem. 269:5458-5466; Huang, et al. (1999) J. Biol. Chem. 274:7870-7878). The results of this cell-based kinase assay confirmed that ZaTa could inhibit p70S6K besides AKT. In contrast, intracellular entry of labeled ZaTa did not cause inhibition of PI3K, SGK, PAK3, JAK3, TrkB or Abl, the kinases that ZaTa could inhibit at higher concentrations in vitro. These data showed that ZaTa had a selective inhibitory effect on AKT1 at nanomolar concentrations. However, at micromolar concentrations ZaTa can also inhibit other select kinases, in particular p70s6K in cell-based assays. Given that most of the above-listed kinases have no known inhibitor, it is contemplated that the ZaTa could be used at micromolar concentrations in in vitro studies to inhibit the activity of the select kinases.

To analyze in vivo selectivity, ZaTa was injected into one hemisphere and DMSO in the other hemisphere, as above, and a series of western blot analyses was performed with phospho-specific antibodies which recognize a phosphorylated substrate or each one of the kinases that ZaTa inhibited at higher concentrations in vitro. The results of this analysis confirmed potent in vivo inhibition of p70S6K by ZaTa, and a weaker in vivo inhibition of Abl. No in vivo inhibitory effects were observed for the other kinases assayed. Given the high functional and structural homology between p70S6K and AKT, the in vivo inhibitory effect of ZaTa on p70S6K was contemplated. Furthermore, the in vivo effect of ZaTa on the phosphorylation levels of substrates for PKA, PKC, CDKs using phospho-specific antibodies recognizing the phosphorylated consensus sites of these kinases was analyzed. In contrast to the consistent decrease in phosphorylation of AKT substrates, significant changes in the phosphorylation level of PKA, PKC and CDKs substrates was not observed after in vivo injection of ZaTa.

As a striatal specific substrate for PKA and CDK5, the phosphorylation level of DARPP-32 was determined at Thr-34 (the PKA site) or at Thr-75 (the CDK5 site) (Huang, et al. (1999) supra). ZaTa did not cause any significant change in the phosphorylation of DARPP-32 at either of these sites. Therefore, compared to the other major family of kinases expressed in the brain, (i.e., PKA, PKC and CDKs), the ZaTa peptide fragment selectively inhibited AKT in vivo.

Peptides can be very effective inhibitors since they efficiently bind to and inhibit enzymatic activity. However, intracellular delivery of peptides can limit their use. With the exception of a few peptides known as cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs), which have been recognized for their use in site-specific drug delivery, inhibitory peptides can have limited intracellular accumulation in in vivo enzymatic studies. CPP neuropeptides function as neurotransmitters in central and peripheral nervous systems. Based on the primary structure of the ZaTa peptide (i.e., a peptide having a basic arm of several basic residues at the N-terminus and a polar arm composed of several residues with free hydroxyl group at the C-terminus) and in vivo inhibitory effect in the brain, it was determined whether ZaTa peptide was a CPP. The ZaTa peptide was labeled with a red fluorescent dye at its N-terminus given that its C-terminus was important for inhibitory activity. The efficiency of the labeling and the purity of the labeled peptide were assessed by mass spectrometry.

The ZaTa peptide was found to penetrate into cells and co-localize with AKT thereby demonstrating that AKT is an intracellular target for ZaTa peptide. The cellular pattern of localization of ZaTa peptide varied from cell to cell; some cells showed strong nuclear signals, some showed a cytoplasmic pattern of staining with aggregates, and some showed a bright signal on the cell membrane. These different localization patterns of ZaTa within the cell were usually accompanied with redistribution of AKT to the site of ZaTa. In addition to the cellular redistribution of AKT upon entry of ZaTa, there was also a decrease in the phosphorylation level of AKT substrates in these cells. Similar results were obtained in vivo after stereotactic injection of fluorescent ZaTa into the frontal cortex, wherein a specific reduction in phosphorylation level of AKT substrates was observed in cells that were positive for ZaTa. These in vitro and in vivo observations showed that ZaTa not only co-localized with AKT inside the cell but also inhibited its catalytic activity.

Entry of ZaTa into the cell also caused different patterns of expression of PKAc, depending on the localization of ZaTa. For example, there was a significant decrease in PKAc immunoreactivity in cells displaying a strong nuclear signal for ZaTa, whereas cells with cytoplasmic aggregates of ZaTa generally showed an increase in PKAc protein levels. These data indicate that the proper activity of AKT in the cell can influence the expression of PKAc. Not wishing to be bound by theory, it is believed that nuclear redistribution of AKT, due to treatment with ZaTa, caused transcriptional changes that suppressed the expression of PKAc. Alternatively, redistribution of ZaTa within cytoplasmic compartments could have caused a compensatory effect, i.e., upregulation of PKAc, to compensate for the decrease in activity of AKT.

The phenotypic consequence of disrupting the AKT-PKAc complex was also determined. ZaTa peptide was injected into the striatum of one hemisphere of the brain and DMSO, as vehicle, was injected into the other brain hemisphere of an adult C57BL/6 mouse under anesthesia. The brain was removed and dissected. Equal protein amounts from each hemisphere were subjected to immunoprecipitation by an anti-AKT antibody. The amount of AKT protein immunoprecipitated from the right (vehicle-treated) and left (ZaTa-treated) striatum were comparable; however, the amount of PKAc in physical contact with AKT was dramatically reduced after treatment with ZaTa. This showed that ZaTa could disrupt the physical complex between AKT and PKAc in vivo. To compare PKAc protein levels in the ZaTa- and vehicle-treated brain hemisphere lysates, western blot analysis was conducted. Although there were comparable amounts of PKAc in both hemispheres, a clear increase in molecular weight was observed for PKAc in the hemisphere treated with ZaTa. This indicates that treatment with ZaTa caused an electro-mobility change in PKAc, possibly due to post-translational changes in PKAc molecules.

As disclosed herein, N2a cells showed a neurite-specific pattern of AKT-PKAc interaction on their neuronal cell processes. Accordingly, the stability and phenotypic consequences of the AKT-PKAc complex was also analyzed in cultured neurons. N2a cells were treated with vehicle, ZaTa or control peptide for 24 hours. Media was removed after the 24-hour treatment and an equal number of cells from each treatment group was either cultured for another 24 hours without treatment, or lysed and subjected to immunoprecipitation with an antibody against AKT. Those cells cultured for another 24 hours were also harvested and subjected to immunoprecipitation. In parallel, the number of individual neurons with neurites was counted. Treatment with ZaTa reduced the amount of PKAc in physical contact with AKT, an effect which was reversible by a 24-hour incubation in the absence of ZaTa. Concurrently, cells treated with ZaTa exhibited a significant reduction in the number of neurons with neurites, an effect which was reversible by a 24-hour incubation in the absence of ZaTa. These data not only confirmed the in vivo observations showing the disruption of AKT-PKAc complex by ZaTa, but also showed the correlation of neurite formation with the amount of PKAc in physical contact with AKT in cultured neurons. Moreover, these data indicate that the effect of ZaTa is reversible. Live images of N2a neurons were captured following treatment with vehicle or ZaTa (2 or 5 μM). These images showed the normal pattern of neurite morphology in untreated N2a cells, wherein treatment of N2a cells with ZaTa peptide caused dramatic morphological changes, in a dose-dependent manner. ZaTa-mediated changes included a progressive loss of neurites, inhibition of new neurite formation, loss of cell motility, as well as formation of large cell colonies.

To determine the phenotypic effect of disrupting the AKT-PKAc complex in an in vivo setting, ZaTa peptide was stereotactically injected into the brain of a mouse and the animal was perfused 18 hours after recovery from surgery. Because AKT is known to have a role in axonal morphology (Markus, et al. (2002) Neuron 35:65-76), coronal sections of striatum were stained with neurofilament-H (NF-H), as an axonal-specific marker. Changes in the staining pattern of axonal filament bundles in striatum were observed upon stereotactic injection of ZaTa peptide, as compared to the other brain hemisphere injected with DMSO as vehicle. To rule out the effect of tissue damage and show that striatal tissue structure was maintained following surgery, sections were co-labeled with a nuclear marker (Draq5). NF-H and nuclear marker staining of the same Z step showed similar tissue structure in both vehicle- and ZaTa-treated hemispheres of the same coronal section. These data, consistent with the co-localization observations disclosed herein, indicate a role for AKT in axon growth and the acceleration of axonal regeneration (see also Markus, et al. (2002) supra; Namikawa, et al. (2000) J. Neurosci. 20:2875-2886). PKA is also known to have a role in regeneration of growth cones on axons (Chierzi, et al. (2005) Eur. J. Neurosci. 21:2051-2062). Therefore, given the data provided herein, it is believed that a proper interaction between AKT and PKAc is involved in maintaining normal neuronal morphology.

AKT affects a network that positively regulates G1/S cell cycle progression through several mechanisms that involve the expression and subcellular localization of the CDK inhibitor p27^(Kip1) (Blain and Massague (2002) Nat. Med. 8:1076-1078; Liang, et al. (2002) supra; Shin, et al. (2002) supra; Viglietto, et al. (2002) supra). Based on these studies, the effect of ZaTa peptide on cell proliferation was assessed. Using an MTT-based proliferation assay, a dose-dependent decrease in the number of live cells was observed. Western blot analysis showed a concomitant decrease in the phosphorylation level of AKT substrates in N2a cells after treatment with different doses of ZaTa peptide. Capturing live images of cultured N2a cells in the presence of different concentrations of the ZaTa peptide confirmed an obvious reduction in the number of dividing cells. Thus, consistent with the previous reports showing a positive role of AKT in cell cycle progression, the data disclosed herein demonstrate the inhibitory role of the ZaTa peptide in the rate of cell proliferation.

Based on the importance of the C-terminal arm of ZaTa for its inhibitory action on AKT, it was determined whether the free hydroxyl groups on residues Thr-8, Thr-10 (equivalent to Thr-197 in full-length PKAc), Thr-14 and Tyr-17 were important for the biological activity of this peptide. Mutants of ZaTa peptide were synthesized by replacing Thr-8 or Thr-10 residues with Asp (ZaTa^(T8D) and ZaTa^(T10DD), respectively) as an amino acid with a negatively charged side chain. Mutants of ZaTa with the hydrophilic positively charged amino acid Arg at either position Thr-14 or Tyr-17 (ZaTa^(T14R) and ZaTa^(Y17R), respectively) were also synthesized. Replacing either Thr-8 or Thr-10 with an Asp significantly diminished the inhibitory effect of ZaTa on cell proliferation, while replacing Thr-14 or Tyr-17 with an Arg considerably augmented ZaTa activity. The inhibitory effect of ZaTa peptide on cell proliferation was reversible, to a large extent, after the removal of ZaTa treatment. While wild-type ZaTa caused a significant decrease in the number of live cells with doses as low as 2 μM, no significant differences in the number of live cells were observed 24 hours after removal of 10 μM wild-type ZaTa or DMSO vehicle. These observations showed that the biochemical properties of the side chain of the amino acids composing the primary structure of ZaTa peptide were important for the biological effects of this peptide. It is possible that ZaTa, like other peptides, can switch between the alpha/beta secondary structures, with one structure more favorable for its active conformation while the other one creates an inactive form. Therefore, the mutation of Thr-14 or Thr-17 to an Arg appeared to stabilize the structure of ZaTa to its active conformation while changing Thr-8 or Thr-10 to Asp was more favorable for generation of an inactive conformation.

Some cell proliferation assays, such as MTT, do not distinguish whether a decrease in the number of viable cells is due to a decrease in the number of dividing cells, or is a result of cell toxicity and death. Therefore, in addition to capturing live images, cells were stained with trypan blue at different time intervals following treatment with ZaTa and counted by a light microscope using a hemocytometer. The same dose-dependent decrease in the number of live cells was observed. However, although a significant increase in the number of dead cells was not seen after treatment with wild-type ZaTa, ZaTa^(T8D), or ZaTa^(T10D), counted at different time points from 12 to 72 hours, a significant increase in the number of dead cells was observed after treatment with ZaTa^(T14R) or ZaTa^(T17R) only after 72 hours. This observation indicated that while the inhibitory effect of the wild-type ZaTa on AKT was reversible, the ZaTa^(T14R) or ZaTa^(Y17R) mutants could, by causing an irreversible inhibition of AKT, cause permanent changes leading to apoptosis and cell death. Alternatively, it was possible that the free hydroxyl group on Thr-14 or Tyr-17 created an unstable/cleavable binding of ZaTa with AKT, while the Arg-14 or Arg-17 made this binding more stable and non-cleavable.

The interaction between PKAc and AKT at the transcriptional level was also evaluated by decreasing PKAc alpha protein levels by RNA interference. Reduced PKAc levels resulted in an increase in the amount of AKT1 protein in non-neuronal HeLa cells as well as in neuronal NG-108 cells. AKT expression was also analyzed in a PRKACA (PKAc alpha) knockout mouse. Since homozygous knockout mice of this strain do not survive to adulthood, AKT1 protein levels were measured in a heterozygous PKAc mouse, which expressed ˜50% of the PKAc protein compared to wild-type. Protein extracts from the frontal cortex of the heterozygous PKAc mouse showed an increase in the AKT1 protein level. These data showed that in addition to the physical interaction between AKT and PKA, which affected their activity levels directly, there were active transcriptional mechanisms involved that regulated the protein level as well.

It is now well-established that AKT protects against apoptosis through phosphorylation and inhibition of pro-apoptotic mediators such as BAD, FOXO family members and IKK-β (Datta, et al. (1999) Genes Dev. 13:2905-2927). To demonstrate the effect of ZaTa on the protective function of AKT, non-proliferating neurons in primary cortical culture were analyzed as a model system that utilizes the minimal level of the cell proliferative activity of AKT. Primary neurons were treated with DMSO, 1 μM or 5 μM of either ZaTa or the control peptide for a duration of 1, 3, 16, 24, 48 or 72 hours. The number of apoptotic cells was counted following the TUNEL assay. The result of this experiment showed a marked dose-dependent increase in the number of TUNEL-positive cells after a 72-hour treatment with ZaTa as compared to the control peptide. The increase in the number of apoptotic neurons following treatment with ZaTa was consistent with its potent intra-neuronal inhibition of AKT.

To confirm the apoptotic inducing effect of ZaTa in vivo, ZaTa was delivered to the mouse brain via the nasal cavity, a minimally invasive procedure compared to the stereotactic surgery. Intranasal delivery of compounds into the brain is an efficient and effective way for local delivery of compounds, without the need for passing the blood brain barriers, the major obstacle for studying the effect of different inhibitors/activators in CNS (Vyas, et al. (2005) Curr. Drug Deliv. 2:165-175; Hrafnkelsdottir, et al. (2005) Biol. Pharm. Bull. 28:1038-1042). Repeated intranasal treatment of C57BL/6 mice with labeled ZaTa for three days significantly increased the number of apoptotic cells in the olfactory bulb, specifically in cells stained positive for ZaTa. This was visualized by double labeling of the brain sections with fluorescent TUNEL and a nuclear marker. By contrast, no change in the number of apoptotic cells was observed in cells which stained negative for ZaTa or following treatment with the control peptide. Taken together, these data indicate that ZaTa can inhibit AKT-dependent functions both in vitro and in vivo.

To improve in vitro activity, in vivo efficacy, and stability of ZaTa, a series of modified peptides have been prepared. The present disclosure therefore relates to compositions of ZaTa-modified peptides for use in methods of changing kinase activity in the treatment of diseases or conditions associated with aberrant expression of AKT. The disclosed compositions embraced by the present disclosure include pharmaceutical compositions containing the ZaTa-modified peptides in admixture with a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier. As ZaTa and its mutants were found to inhibit AKT activity and/or modify the activity of other kinases, particular embodiments embrace pharmaceutical compositions containing one or more of ZaTa analogs.

Rational design of the modified peptides is facilitated by the known crystal structure of an activated AKT in complex with GSK-3 peptide and AMP-PNP (Yang, et al. (2002) Nat. Struct. Biol. 9:940-944). The structure revealed the binding of GSK-3 peptide through the activation loop of AKT. The observation that the short sequence of ZaTa peptide (SEQ ID NO:60), surrounding the Thr-197 located in the activation loop of PKAc, was sufficient to inhibit AKT as potently as the full-length PKAc protein indicates that during the course of interaction between the active conformations of the two molecules, residues adjacent to the Thr-197 site are essential and sufficient for this inhibition. Not wishing to be bound by theory, it is believed that in the active conformation of full-length PKAc, a specific sequence surrounding Thr-197 docks into the active site of AKT thereby preventing efficient phosphorylation of Thr-308 and/or binding of GKS-3 substrate peptide to the activation loop of AKT and AKT fails to phosphorylate GSK-3 at Ser-9 site. Looking at the other component of this interaction, it is found that in contrast to the inhibitory effect of active PKAc, AKT phosphorylates PKAc at Thr-197 which increases its catalytic activity. The data disclosed herein indicate that this phosphorylation is not required for the inhibitory effect of PKAc toward AKT; however, it provides a conformational change that not only favors a more active state for PKAc, but also exposes residues surrounding this site for the subsequent inhibitory effect of full-length PKAc on AKT. Therefore, as a structural model, the PKAc/AKT interaction functions as a molecular on/off switch in which AKT phosphorylates Thr-197 of PKAc first, which results in a more active conformation for PKAc and its binding to the activation loop of AKT provides an inactive conformation for AKT. In an analysis of cAMP-induced activation of PKA, the crystal structure of the catalytic and regulatory (RIα) subunits of PKA in complex was determined (Kim, et al. (2005) Science 307:690-696). This analysis indicates that the PKA inhibitor peptide of the RI subunit is sufficient to inhibit PKAc catalytic activity.

A series of modifications were applied to the sequence of ZaTa peptide to identify the shortest active fragment of ZaTa peptide. Several fragments from ZaTa peptide were synthesized and tested in-vitro by MTT assay to find the shortest sequence that can show anti-cell proliferative activities. This experiments revealed that a variant of ZaTa with the sequence as short as Lys-Gly-Arg-Thr-(1-Nal)-Thr-Leu-Cys (SEQ ID:114 with a Lys as Xaa1) is sufficient to inhibit cell proliferation.

Furthermore, the ability of the ZaTa peptide to form a dimer of its single Cys residue and the effect of this dimerization on the activity level and the potency of the ZaTa peptide were analyzed both in vitro and in vivo. For in-vitro testing, the anti-cell proliferative activity of the monomer of ZaTa was compared to the dimer for using an MTT assay. This experiment showed that the dimer has more potency for the inhibition of cell proliferation compared to the monomer of the peptide. In in vivo assays, the tumor growth rate of U251 xenografts were compared between the animals that were treated with the vehicle, the dimer or the monomer of the ZaTa peptide. This animal study also confirmed that the dimer form has better activities compared to the monomer.

Moreover, typical peptide modifications at different residues such as pegylation and lipidation of the peptide were tested and studied both in-vitro and in-vivo. This study showed that both lipidation and/or pegylation of the peptide facilitate the anti-cell proliferative activity of the peptide both in vitro and in vivo.

Other changes, such as C terminal acylation and N-terminal amidation of the peptide also improved the anti-cell proliferative activity of ZaTa peptide. However, adding a fluorescent molecule such as FITC in order to visualize the activity of the peptide seemed to reduce the anti-cell proliferative activities of ZaTa peptide. Significantly, replacing the hydrophilic residues of ZaTa, such as its Thr-15 or Tyr-17, with halogenated amino acid derivatives such as 4-Cl Tyr or 4-F Tyr or 4-Cl-Phe or 4-F-Phe improved the activity of ZaTa. Moreover, changes of natural amino-acids such as the Lys to a similar non-proteinogenic amino acid such as Orn, also improved the activity of ZaTa.

Changes in the sequence of ZaTa peptide, such as single replacement of residues, or simultaneous replacement of two or three residues with amino-acids with similar properties in terms of hydrophobicity and positive or negative or neutral charge, did not significantly changed the interfere with the anti-cell proliferative peptide activity. This experiments reflects the fact that the sequence of this peptide can tolerate several mutations in its sequence without blocking its anti-cell proliferation activity.

Whether inhibition of AKT1 activity is required for the anti-cell proliferative activity of ZaTa was examined. Several variants of ZaTa were synthesized with different truncations and mutations and were tested during in-vitro kinase assays against AKT1. This study showed that there in fact several variants of ZaTa that do not inhibit AKT1 significantly, but can still inhibit cell proliferation. This experiment showed that inhibition of AKT1 is one mechanism of action for ZaTa and the anti-cell proliferative activity of ZaTa variants does not require inhibition of AKT1.

Using in-vitro kinase assays, the kinase inhibition profiles of ZaTa variants were tested against ˜115 different kinases involved in cell proliferation. This kinase profiling showed that besides AKT1, AKT2, p70S6K and Abl, several other kinases can be inhibited in nano-molar range, by different variants of ZaTa peptide. More specifically, the kinases that were inhibited within the nano-molar range of concentration of different variants were:

-   -   AKT1 (PKB alpha), AKT2 (PKB beta), MAP3K8 (COT), MST4, AURKB         (Aurora B), ROCK1, RPS6KB1 (p70S6K), CDC42 BPA (MRCKA), BRAF,         RAF1 (cRAF) Y340D Y341D, SGK (SGK1), MAP4K4 (HGK), AURKA (Aurora         A), AURKC (Aurora C), BRAF V599E, CHEK1 (CHK1), GSG2 (Haspin),         CHEK2 (CHK2), FGR, IKBKB (IKK beta), CDK7/cyclin H/MNAT1, and         CDC42 BPB (MRCKB)

Accordingly, in one aspect, the present disclosure embraces a modified peptide including:

-   -   (i) an amino acid sequence (X)-GRT-(Y)-TLC-(Z), such as SEQ ID:         113, or     -   (ii) an amino acid sequence having at least 40% sequence         identity to the amino acid sequence (X)-GRT-(Y)-TLC-(Z), such as         SEQ ID:113,     -   wherein     -   X is a natural amino acid, a non-natural amino acid, a chemical         modification of a natural or non-natural amino acid, an acetyl         group, a lipid group, or a combination thereof;     -   Y is a natural amino acid, a non-natural amino acid, a chemical         modification of a natural or non-natural amino acid, or a         combination thereof; and     -   Z is a natural amino acid, a non-natural amino acid, a chemical         modification of a natural or non-natural amino acid, an amine         group, or a combination thereof.

In any aspect or embodiment described herein, X may include an acetyl group, a lauroyl group, or a palmitoyl group located at the terminal end thereof; Y may be 1-Nal, 2-Nal; and Z may include an amino group located at the terminal end thereof.

In any aspect or embodiment described herein, the amino acid sequence may be (X¹)-KGRT-(Y)-TLC-(Z), wherein X¹ is the same as X above.

In any aspect or embodiment described herein, the amino acid sequence may be (X²)-VKGRT-(Y)-TLC-(Z), wherein X² is the same as X above.

In any aspect or embodiment described herein, the amino acid sequence may be (X³)-RVKGRT-(Y)-TLCGRPE-(Z¹), wherein X³ is the same as X above, and wherein Z¹ is the same as Z above.

In any aspect or embodiment described herein, the amino acid sequence may be (X⁴)-KRVKGRT-(Y)-TLCGRPE-(Z¹), wherein X⁴ is the same as X above, and wherein Z¹ is the same as Z above.

In any aspect or embodiment described herein, the amino acid sequence may be (X⁵)-RVKGRT-(Y)-TLCGRPE-(Z¹), wherein X⁵ is the same as X above, and wherein Z¹ is the same as Z above.

In any aspect or embodiment described herein, the amino acid sequence may be (X⁷)-V-(X⁸)-GRT-(Y)-TLC-(Z), wherein X⁷ is the same as X above, and wherein X⁸ is a natural amino acid, a non-natural amino acid, a chemical modification of a natural or non-natural amino acid, or a combination thereof.

In any aspect or embodiment described herein, the amino acid sequence may be (X⁹)-KV-(X⁸)-GRT-(Y)-TLC-(Z), wherein X⁹ is the same as X above.

In another aspect, the present disclosure embraces a modified peptide having the formula:

-   -   (X)-(seq1)-(Y)-(seq2)-(Z) or an amino acid sequence having at         least 40% sequence identity to the amino acid sequence         (X)-(seq1)-(Y)-(seq2)-(Z)     -   wherein     -   seq1 is GRT, KGRT (SEQ ID NO:118), VKGRT (SEQ ID NO:119), RVKGRT         (SEQ ID NO:120), KRVKGRT (SEQ ID NO:121), (Orn)-RVKGRT (SEQ ID         NO:122), or AKRVKGRT (SEQ ID NO:123);     -   seq2 is TLC, TLCG (SEQ ID NO:124), TLCGR (SEQ ID NO:125),         TLCGRPE (SEQ ID NO:126), TLCGRPEY (SEQ ID NO:127), or         TLCGRPE-(4-Cl-Phe) (SEQ ID NO:128);     -   X is a natural amino acid, a non-natural amino acid, a chemical         modification of a natural or non-natural amino acid, an acetyl         group, a lipid group, or a combination thereof;     -   Y is a natural amino acid, a non-natural amino acid, a chemical         modification of a natural or non-natural amino acid, or a         combination thereof; and     -   Z is a natural amino acid, a non-natural amino acid, a chemical         modification of a natural or non-natural amino acid, an amine         group, or a combination thereof.

In any aspect or embodiment described herein, X may include an acetyl group or a lipid group located at the terminal end thereof. The lipid group may be a C6 to C20 lipid group, for example, a lauroyl group or a palmitoyl group.

In any aspect or embodiment described herein, Y may be 1-Nal, and Z may include an amino group located at its terminal end.

In any aspect or embodiment described herein, the non-natural amino acid is ornithine, naphthylalanine, 4-chloro phenylalanine, or a combination thereof.

In another aspect, the present disclosure embraces a dimer of the above modified peptide. In any aspect or embodiment described herein, the dimer is a homodimer or a heterodimer, and may include a disulfide bond.

In accordance with the present disclosure, exemplary modified peptides may include the following structures:

-   -   Lauroyl-(Orn)-RVKGRT-(1-Nal)-TLCGRPE-(4-Cl-Phe)-NH₂ (Cys-Cys         dimer of SEQ ID NO:105)     -   Lauroyl-(Orn)-RVKGRT-(1-Nal)-TLCGRPE-(4-Cl-Phe)-NH₂ (SEQ ID         NO:105)     -   Palmitoyl-(Orn)-RVKGRT-(1-Nal)-TLCGRPE-(4-Cl-Phe)-NH₂ (Cys-Cys         dimer of SEQ ID NO:105)     -   Palmitoyl-(Orn)-RVKGRT-(1-Nal)-TLCGRPE-(4-Cl-Phe)-NH₂(SEQ ID         NO:105)     -   Ac-(Orn)-RVKGRT-(1-Nal)-TLCGRPE-(4-Cl-Phe)-NH₂ (Cys-Cys dimer of         SEQ ID NO:105 without lipid modification)     -   Ac-(Orn)-RVKGRT-(1-Nal)-TLCGRPE-(4-Cl-Phe)-NH₂ (SEQ ID NO:105         without lipid modification)     -   Ac-AKRVKGRT-(1-Nal)-TLCGRPE-(4-Cl-Phe)-NH₂(SEQ ID NO:106 without         lipid modification)     -   Ac-AKRVKGRT-(1-Nal)-TLCGRPE-(4-Cl-Phe)-NH₂ (Cys-Cys dimer of SEQ         ID NO:106 without lipid modification)     -   Ac-KRVKGRT-(1-Nal)-TLCGRPE-(4-Cl-Phe)-NH₂ (SEQ ID NO:107 without         lipid modification)     -   Ac-KRVKGRT-(1-Nal)-TLCGRPE-(4-Cl-Phe)-NH₂ (Cys-Cys dimer of SEQ         ID NO:107 without lipid modification)     -   Ac-KGRT-(1-Nal)-TLC-NH₂ (SEQ ID NO:108 without lipid         modification)     -   Ac-KGRT-(1-Nal)-TLC-NH₂ (Cys-Cys dimer of SEQ ID NO:108 without         lipid modification)     -   Ac-VKGRT-(1-Nal)-TLC-NH₂ (SEQ ID NO:109 without lipid         modification)     -   Ac-VKGRT-(1-Nal)-TLC-NH₂ (Cys-Cys dimer of SEQ ID NO:109 without         lipid modification)     -   Ac-V-(Orn)-GRT-(1-Nal)-TLC-NH₂ SEQ ID NO:110 without lipid         modification)     -   Ac-V-(Orn)-GRT-(1-Nal)-TLC-NH₂ (Cys-Cys dimer of SEQ ID NO:110         without lipid modification)     -   Ac-V-(Orn)-GRT-(1-Nal)-TLCG-NH₂ (SEQ ID NO:111 without lipid         modification)     -   Ac-V-(Orn)-GRT-(1-Nal)-TLCG-NH₂ (Cys-Cys dimer of SEQ ID NO:111         without lipid modification)     -   Ac-V-(Orn)-GRT-(1-Nal)-TLCGR-NH₂ (SEQ ID NO:112 without lipid         modification)     -   Ac-V-(Orn)-GRT-(1-Nal)-TLCGR-NH₂ (Cys-Cys dimer of SEQ ID NO:112         without lipid modification))     -   Ac-(Orn)-GRT-(1-Nal)-TLC-(4-Cl-Phe)-NH₂ (SEQ ID NO:113 without         lipid modification)     -   Ac-(Orn)-GRT-(1-Nal)-TLC-(4-Cl-Phe)-NH₂ (Cys-Cys dimer of SEQ ID         NO:113 without lipid modification)     -   Ac-(Orn)-GRT-(1-Nal)-TLC-NH₂ (SEQ ID NO:114 without lipid         modification)     -   Ac-(Orn)-GRT-(1-Nal)-TLC-NH₂ (Cys-Cys dimer of SEQ ID NO:114         without lipid modification)     -   Ac-KV-(Orn)-GRT-(1-Nal)-TLC-NH₂ (SEQ ID NO:115 without lipid         modification)     -   Ac-KV-(Orn)-GRT-(1-Nal)-TLC-NH₂ (Cys-Cys dimer of SEQ ID NO:115         without lipid modification)     -   Ac-KVKGRT-(1-Nal)-TLC-NH₂ (SEQ ID NO:116 without lipid         modification)     -   Ac-KVKGRT-(1-Nal)-TLC-NH₂ (Cys-Cys dimer of SEQ ID NO:116         without lipid modification)     -   Ac-RVKGRT-(1-Nal)-TLC-NH₂ (SEQ ID NO:117 without lipid         modification)     -   Ac-RVKGRT-(1-Nal)-TLC-NH₂ (Cys-Cys dimer of SEQ ID NO:117         without lipid modification).

In the above structures, “Lauroyl” is n-dodecanoyl, “Palmitoyl” is n-hexadecanoyl, “Ac” is acetyl, “Orn” is ornithine, “1-Nal” is 1-naphthylalanine, “2-Nal” is 2-naphthylalanine, “4-Cl-Phe” is 4-chloro-phenylalanine, and “Cys” is cysteine.

As used herein, “modified peptides” of the present disclosure encompasses polypeptides that are recombinantly produced, purified from a natural source, or chemically synthesized. For yield and ease in purification, it is conventional in the art to produce proteins and fragments thereof by recombinant protein methodologies. Methods for producing recombinant proteins in vivo (i.e., cell-based) generally include isolating a nucleic acid molecule encoding the protein or fragment of interest, incorporating the nucleic acid molecule into a recombinant expression vector in a form suitable for expression of the protein or fragment in a host cell, and expressing the protein. A suitable form for expression provides that the recombinant expression vector includes one or more regulatory sequences operatively-linked to the nucleic acid molecule encoding the protein or fragment of interest in a manner which allows for transcription of the nucleic acids into mRNA and translation of the mRNA into the protein. Regulatory sequences can include promoters, enhancers and other expression control elements (e.g., polyadenylation signals). Such regulatory sequences and vectors encoding the same are known to those skilled in the art and are described in Goeddel, Gene Expression Technology: Methods in Enzymology 185, Academic Press, San Diego, CA (1990). Suitable vectors for recombinant protein expression in mammalian, yeast, or prokaryotic systems are commercially available from such sources as STRATAGENE®, INVITROGEN™, Pharmacia and the like. Many of these vectors encode heterologous polypeptides, i.e. signal sequences for secretion and/or other polypeptide which will aid in the purification of the protein or fragment of interest. Preferably, the heterologous polypeptide has a specific cleavage site to remove the heterologous polypeptide from the protein of interest. Other useful heterologous polypeptides which can be fused to the protein of interest are those which increase expression or solubility of the fusion protein or aid in the purification of the fusion protein by acting as a ligand in affinity purification. Typical fusion expression vectors include pGEX (Amersham Biosciences, Piscataway, NJ), pMAL (New England Biolabs, Beverly, Mass.) and pRIT5 (Pharmacia, Piscataway, NJ), which fuse glutathione-S-transferase, maltose E binding protein, or protein A, respectively, to the protein of interest. It should be understood that the design of the expression vector may depend on such factors as the choice of the host cell to be transfected and/or the level of expression required.

Introduction of the recombinant expression vector into a host cell (e.g., of eukaryotic or prokaryotic origin) can be carried out using any conventional technique for transforming cells. Suitable methods for transforming host cells are found in Sambrook, et al. (Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, 3rd Edition, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press (2000)) and other laboratory manuals. The number of host cells transformed with a nucleic acid molecule encoding a protein will depend, at least in part, upon the type of recombinant expression vector used and the type of transformation technique used. A recombinant protein or fragment can be expressed transiently, or more typically, stably expressed by integrating the recombinant expression vector into the genome of the host cell or by episomal maintenance of the vector.

Once produced, a modified peptide can be recovered from culture medium as a secreted polypeptide, or alternatively recovered from host cell lysates when directly expressed without a secretory signal. When a modified peptide is expressed in a recombinant host cell other than one of human origin, the modified peptide is substantially free of proteins or polypeptides of human origin. However, it may be necessary to purify the modified peptide from recombinant cell proteins or polypeptides using conventional protein purification methods to obtain preparations that are substantially homogeneous as to the modified peptide. As a first step, the culture medium or lysate is centrifuged to remove particulate cell debris. The membrane and soluble protein fractions are then separated. The recombinant modified peptide may then be purified from the soluble protein fraction. The recombinant modified peptide thereafter is purified from contaminant soluble proteins and polypeptides using any of the following suitable purification procedures: by fractionation on immunoaffinity or ion-exchange columns; ethanol precipitation; reverse phase HPLC; chromatography on silica or on a cation-exchange resin such as DEAE; chromatofocusing; SDS-PAGE; ammonium sulfate precipitation; gel filtration using, for example, Sephadex™ G-75; and ligand affinity chromatography.

In addition to recombinant production, a modified peptide can be produced by direct peptide synthesis using solid-phase techniques (Merrifield R. B. (1963) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 85:2149-2154). Protein synthesis can be performed using manual techniques or by automation. Automated synthesis can be achieved, for example, using Applied Biosystems® 431A Peptide Synthesizer (Perkin Elmer, Boston, MA). When producing a modified peptide, various portions thereof can be chemically-synthesized separately and combined using chemical methods to produce a full-length molecule.

Whether recombinantly-produced or chemically-synthesized, a modified peptide can be further functionalized for use. For example, a modified peptide can be phosphorylated, acetylated, methylated or a combination thereof using well-known methods in prior to its use in inhibiting the activity of AKT and other kinases. Moreover, PKAc and PKAc fragment-based therapeutics can be attached to a modified peptide scaffold.

In any aspect or embodiment described herein, the amino acid residues in the modified peptide of present disclosure are selected from any of the naturally-occurring amino acids. In other embodiments, one or more or synthetic non-encoded amino acids are used to replace one or more of the naturally-occurring amino acid residues. Certain commonly encountered non-encoded amino acids include, but are not limited to: peptide mimetics or analogs; beta or gamma amino acids; the D-enantiomers of the genetically-encoded amino acids; 2,3-diaminopropionic acid (Dpr); α-aminoisobutyric acid (Aib); ε-aminohexanoic acid (Aha); δ-aminovaleric acid (Ava); N-methylglycine or sarcosine (MeGly or Sar); ornithine (Orn); citrulline (Cit); t-butylalanine (Bua); t-butylglycine (Bug); N-methylisoleucine (MeIle); phenylglycine (Phg); cyclohexylalanine (Cha); norleucine (Nle); homoleucine (hLeu), homovaline (hVal); homoisolencine (hIle); homoarginine (hArg); N-acetyl lysine (AcLys); 2,4-diaminobutyric acid (Dbu); 2,3-diaminobutyric acid (Dab); N-methylvaline (MeVal); homocysteine (hCys); homoserine (hSer); hydroxyproline (Hyp) and homoproline (hPro); and the like. Additional non-encoded amino acids are well-known to those of skill in the art (see, e.g., the various amino acids provided in Fasman (1989) CRC Practical Handbook of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, at pp. 3-70 and the references cited therein). Further, amino acids of the inventions of the present disclosure can be in either the L- or D-configuration.

A modified peptide can be used as a purified preparation, or in certain embodiments, formulated into a pharmaceutical composition containing an effective amount of a modified peptide or its dimer to decrease the expression or activity of AKT and/or other kinases. Such pharmaceutical compositions can be prepared by methods and contain carriers which are well-known in the art. A generally recognized compendium of such methods and ingredients is Remington: The Science and Practice of Pharmacy, Alfonso R. Gennaro, editor, 20th ed. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins: Philadelphia, P A, 2000. For example, sterile saline and phosphate-buffered saline at physiological pH can be used. Preservatives, stabilizers, dyes and even flavoring agents can be included in the pharmaceutical composition. For example, sodium benzoate, sorbic acid and esters of p-hydroxybenzoic acid can be added as preservatives. In addition, antioxidants and suspending agents can be used. Liposomes, such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,422,120, WO 95/13796, WO 91/14445, or EP 524,968 B1, are also suitable carriers.

Depending on the intended use, a pharmaceutical composition of the present disclosure can be administered by any suitable means, including parenteral injection (such as intraperitoneal, subcutaneous, intratumoral or intramuscular injection), orally or by topical application (e.g., transdermal or via a mucosal surface). By pharmaceutically acceptable formulation is meant, a composition or formulation that allows for the effective distribution of the peptide molecules of the present disclosure in the physical location most suitable for their desired activity. Non-limiting examples of agents suitable for formulation with the peptide molecules of the present disclosure include: PEG conjugated nucleic acids, phospholipid conjugated nucleic acids, nucleic acids containing lipophilic moieties, phosphorothioates, P-glycoprotein inhibitors (such as Pluronic P85) which can enhance entry of drugs into various tissues, for example the CNS (Jolliet-Riant and Tillement, 1999, Fundam. Clin. Pharmacol., 13, 16-26); biodegradable polymers, such as poly (DL-lactide-coglycolide) microspheres for sustained release delivery after implantation (Emerich, D F et al, 1999, Cell Transplant, 8, 47-58) Alkermes, Inc. Cambridge, Mass.; and loaded nanoparticles, such as those made of polybutylcyanoacrylate, which can deliver drugs across the blood brain barrier and can alter neuronal uptake mechanisms (Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry, 23, 941-949, 1999). Other non-limiting examples of delivery strategies, including CNS delivery of include material described in Boado et al., 1998, J. Pharm. Sci., 87, 1308-1315; Tyler et al, 1999, FEBS Lett., 421, 280-284; Pardridge et al., 1995, PNAS USA, 92, 5592-5596; Boado, 1995, Adv. Drug Delivery Rev., 15, 73-107; Aldrian-Herrada et al., 1998, Nucleic Acids Res., 26, 4910-4916; and Tyler et al., 1999, PNAS USA, 96, 7053-7058. All these references are hereby incorporated herein by reference. The modified peptides of the present disclosure were delivered into the brain via intranasal injection; the peptides were dissolved in tetraglycol (Sigma) to 0.5 mM final concentration, and 50 of the solution was injected to each nasal cavity.

In certain embodiments, the disclosure provides modified peptides that are cell penetrating peptides and distribute rapidly throughout the human tissue. In certain embodiments, the peptides described herein are delivered locally into the site of tumor. In an exemplary embodiment, the modified peptides of the present disclosure are injected directly into the site of the tumor through, for example, stereotactic surgery. However, one potential disadvantage of this technique is that local injections are not generally formulated for sustained release delivery.

Therefore, additional formulation/delivery devices are also contemplated that provide for and/or are adapted for controlled and/or sustained release of a therapeutic of the present disclosure. For example, the modified peptides of the present disclosure can be conjugated (either covalently or via non-covalent bonds) or merely entrapped in a pharmaceutically acceptable (i.e., biologically inert or biologically compatible) and/or biologically absorbable carrier material, for example a polymer matrix, biopolymer matrix, and/or other matrix. As used herein, “biologically inert or biologically compatible” refers to materials that do not result in a significant allergic or immunogenic reaction in the host. In an embodiment, the material is comprised of collagen. Other materials include proteins, like elastin, saccharides and gels, and/or sols comprising saccharides, for example, hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC), HPMC, methacrylates, and the like. In an exemplary embodiment, the material is an absorbable collagen sponge (ACS) or cross-linked collagen matrix, which is adapted to allow controlled and/or sustained release of the peptide into the tissue. The modified peptide could be inserted into a device or preshaped/prefabricated matrix material either contemporaneously or after formation of the delivery device. In still other embodiments the modified peptide/biocompatible material (e.g., collagen) could be inserted into another device, which is also bioabsorbable and/or implantable, the device to be delivered into the tumor site to allow sustained local delivery. The combination of modified peptide/biocompatible material could also be inserted through a different external device. See, McKay, B. Local Sustained Delivery of Recombinant Human Bone Morphogenetic Protein-2 (rhHBMP-2). 31st Annual International Conference of the IEEE EMBS, Sep. 2-6, 2009; and Chan, B. P. Effects of Photochemical Cross-linking on the Microstructure of Collagen and a Feasability Study on Controlled Protein Release. Acta Biomaterialia, 4:1627-36 (2008), which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

The formulations can be administered orally, topically, parenterally, by inhalation or spray or rectally in dosage unit formulations containing conventional non-toxic pharmaceutically acceptable carriers, adjuvants and vehicles. The term parenteral as used herein includes percutaneous, subcutaneous, intravascular (e.g., intravenous), intramuscular, or intrathecal injection or infusion techniques and the like. In addition, there is provided a pharmaceutical formulation comprising a nucleic acid molecule of the present disclosure and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier. One or more nucleic acid molecules of the present disclosure can be present in association with one or more non-toxic pharmaceutically acceptable carriers and/or diluents and/or adjuvants, and if desired other active ingredients. The pharmaceutical compositions of the present disclosure can be in a form suitable for oral use, for example, as tablets, troches, lozenges, aqueous or oily suspensions, dispersible powders or granules, emulsion, hard or soft capsules, or syrups or elixirs.

Compositions intended for oral use can be prepared according to any method known to the art for the manufacture of pharmaceutical compositions and such compositions can contain one or more such sweetening agents, flavoring agents, coloring agents or preservative agents in order to provide pharmaceutically elegant and palatable preparations. Tablets contain the active ingredient in admixture with non-toxic pharmaceutically acceptable excipients that are suitable for the manufacture of tablets. These excipients can be for example, inert diluents, such as calcium carbonate, sodium carbonate, lactose, calcium phosphate or sodium phosphate; granulating and disintegrating agents, for example, corn starch, or alginic acid; binding agents, for example starch, gelatin or acacia, and lubricating agents, for example magnesium stearate, stearic acid or talc. The tablets can be uncoated or they can be coated by known techniques. In some cases such coatings can be prepared by known techniques to delay disintegration and absorption in the gastrointestinal tract and thereby provide a sustained action over a longer period. For example, a time delay material such as glyceryl monosterate or glyceryl distearate can be employed.

Formulations for oral use can also be presented as hard gelatin capsules wherein the active ingredient is mixed with an inert solid diluent, for example, calcium carbonate, calcium phosphate or kaolin, or as soft gelatin capsules wherein the active ingredient is mixed with water or an oil medium, for example peanut oil, liquid paraffin or olive oil.

Aqueous suspensions contain the active materials in admixture with excipients suitable for the manufacture of aqueous suspensions. Such excipients are suspending agents, for example sodium carboxymethylcellulose, methylcellulose, hydropropyl-methylcellulose, sodium alginate, polyvinylpyrrolidone, gum tragacanth and gum acacia; dispersing or wetting agents can be a naturally-occurring phosphatide, for example, lecithin, or condensation products of an alkylene oxide with fatty acids, for example polyoxyethylene stearate, or condensation products of ethylene oxide with long chain aliphatic alcohols, for example heptadecaethyleneoxycetanol, or condensation products of ethylene oxide with partial esters derived from fatty acids and a hexitol such as polyoxyethylene sorbitol monooleate, or condensation products of ethylene oxide with partial esters derived from fatty acids and hexitol anhydrides, for example polyethylene sorbitan monooleate. The aqueous suspensions can also contain one or more preservatives, for example ethyl, or n-propyl p-hydroxybenzoate, one or more coloring agents, one or more flavoring agents, and one or more sweetening agents, such as sucrose or saccharin.

Oily suspensions can be formulated by suspending the active ingredients in a vegetable oil, for example arachis oil, olive oil, sesame oil or coconut oil, or in a mineral oil such as liquid paraffin. The oily suspensions can contain a thickening agent, for example beeswax, hard paraffin or cetyl alcohol. Sweetening agents and flavoring agents can be added to provide palatable oral preparations. These compositions can be preserved by the addition of an anti-oxidant such as ascorbic acid.

Dispersible powders and granules suitable for preparation of an aqueous suspension by the addition of water provide the active ingredient in admixture with a dispersing or wetting agent, suspending agent and one or more preservatives. Suitable dispersing or wetting agents or suspending agents are exemplified by those already mentioned above. Additional excipients, for example sweetening, flavoring and coloring agents, can also be present.

Pharmaceutical compositions of the present disclosure can also be in the form of oil-in-water emulsions. The oily phase can be a vegetable oil or a mineral oil or mixtures of these. Suitable emulsifying agents can be naturally-occurring gums, for example gum acacia or gum tragacanth, naturally-occurring phosphatides, for example soy bean, lecithin, and esters or partial esters derived from fatty acids and hexitol, anhydrides, for example sorbitan monooleate, and condensation products of the said partial esters with ethylene oxide, for example polyoxyethylene sorbitan monooleate. The emulsions can also contain sweetening and flavoring agents.

Syrups and elixirs can be formulated with sweetening agents, for example glycerol, propylene glycol, sorbitol, glucose or sucrose. Such formulations can also contain a demulcent, a preservative and flavoring and coloring agents. The pharmaceutical compositions can be in the form of a sterile injectable aqueous or oleaginous suspension. This suspension can be formulated according to the known art using those suitable dispersing or wetting agents and suspending agents that have been mentioned above. The sterile injectable preparation can also be a sterile injectable solution or suspension in a non-toxic parentally acceptable diluent or solvent, for example as a solution in 1,3-butanediol. Among the acceptable vehicles and solvents that can be employed are water, Ringer's solution and isotonic sodium chloride solution. In addition, sterile, fixed oils are conventionally employed as a solvent or suspending medium. For this purpose any bland fixed oil can be employed including synthetic mono- or diglycerides. In addition, fatty acids such as oleic acid find use in the preparation of injectables.

Peptide molecules of the present disclosure can also be administered in the form of suppositories, e.g., for rectal administration of the drug or via a catheter directly to the bladder itself. These compositions can be prepared by mixing the drug with a suitable non-irritating excipient that is solid at ordinary temperatures but liquid at the rectal temperature and will therefore melt in the rectum to release the drug. Such materials include cocoa butter and polyethylene glycols.

Peptide molecules of the present disclosure can be administered parenterally in a sterile medium. The drug, depending on the vehicle and concentration used, can either be suspended or dissolved in the vehicle. Advantageously, adjuvants such as local anesthetics, preservatives and buffering agents can be dissolved in the vehicle.

The amount of active ingredient that can be combined with the carrier materials to produce a single dosage form varies depending upon the host treated and the particular mode of administration. Dosage unit forms generally contain between from about 0.1 mg to about 1000 mg of an active ingredient.

It is understood that the specific dose level for any particular patient or subject depends upon a variety of factors including the activity of the specific compound employed, the age, body weight, general health, sex, diet, time of administration, route of administration, and rate of excretion, drug combination and the severity of the particular disease undergoing therapy.

For administration to non-human animals, the composition can also be added to the animal feed or drinking water. It can be convenient to formulate the animal feed and drinking water compositions so that the animal takes in a therapeutically appropriate quantity of the composition along with its diet. It can also be convenient to present the composition as a premix for addition to the feed or drinking water.

The composition can also be administered to a subject in combination with other therapeutic compounds to increase the overall therapeutic effect. The use of multiple compounds to treat an indication can increase the beneficial effects while reducing the presence of side effects.

In certain embodiments, the present disclosure encompasses host cells that have been modified to carry an exogenous or heterologous nucleic acid comprising a nucleic acid encoding for the modified peptide.

The term “host cell” includes a cell that might be used to carry a heterologous nucleic acid, or expresses a peptide or protein encoded by a heterologous nucleic acid. A host cell can contain genes that are not found within the native (non-recombinant) form of the cell, genes found in the native form of the cell where the genes are modified and re-introduced into the cell by artificial means, or a nucleic acid endogenous to the cell that has been artificially modified without removing the nucleic acid from the cell. A host cell may be eukaryotic or prokaryotic. General growth conditions necessary for the culture of bacteria can be found in texts such as BERGEY'S MANUAL OF SYSTEMATIC BACTERIOLOGY, Vol. 1, N. R. Krieg, ed., Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore/London (1984). A “host cell” can also be one in which the endogenous genes or promoters or both have been modified to produce one or more of the polypeptide components of the complex of the present disclosure.

Derivatives or variants of the nucleic acids, proteins, or peptides of the present disclosure include, but are not limited to, molecules comprising regions that are substantially homologous to the nucleic acids or proteins of the present disclosure, in various embodiments, by at least about 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%, or 95% identity (with a preferred identity of 80-95%) over a nucleic acid or amino acid sequence of identical size or when compared to an aligned sequence in which the alignment is done by a computer homology program known in the art, or whose encoding nucleic acid is capable of hybridizing to the complement of a sequence encoding the proteins of the present disclosure under stringent, moderately stringent, or low stringent conditions. See, e.g., Ausubel, et al., CURRENT PROTOCOLS IN MOLECULAR BIOLOGY, John Wiley & Sons, New York, N.Y., 1993. Nucleic acid derivatives and modifications include those obtained by gene replacement, site-specific mutation, deletion, insertion, recombination, repair, shuffling, endonuclease digestion, PCR, subcloning, and related techniques.

Furthermore, one of ordinary skill will recognize that “conservative mutations” also include the substitution, deletion or addition of nucleic acids that alter, add or delete a single amino acid or a small number of amino acids in a coding sequence where the nucleic acid alterations result in the substitution of a chemically similar amino acid. Amino acids that may serve as conservative substitutions for each other include the following: Basic: Arginine (R), Lysine (K), Histidine (H); Acidic: Aspartic acid (D), Glutamic acid (E), Asparagine (N), Glutamine (Q); hydrophilic: Glycine (G), Alanine (A), Valine (V), Leucine (L), Isoleucine (I); Hydrophobic: Phenylalanine (F), Tyrosine (Y), Tryptophan (W); Sulfur-containing: Methionine (M), Cysteine (C). In addition, sequences that differ by conservative variations are generally homologous.

Descriptions of the molecular biological techniques useful to the practice of the present disclosure including mutagenesis, PCR, cloning, and the like include Berger and Kimmel, GUIDE TO MOLECULAR CLONING TECHNIQUES, METHODS IN ENZYMOLOGY, volume 152, Academic Press, Inc., San Diego, Calif. (Berger); Sambrook et al., MOLECULAR CLONING—A LABORATORY MANUAL (2nd Ed.), Vol. 1-3, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York, 1989, and CURRENT PROTOCOLS IN MOLECULAR BIOLOGY, F. M. Ausubel et al., eds., Current Protocols, a joint venture between Greene Publishing Associates, Inc. and John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; Berger, Sambrook, and Ausubel, as well as Mullis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,683,202 (1987); PCR PROTOCOLS A GUIDE TO METHODS AND APPLICATIONS (Innis et al. eds), Academic Press, Inc., San Diego, Calif. (1990) (Innis); Arnheim & Levinson (Oct. 1, 1990) C&EN 36-47.

In yet another embodiment, a nucleic acid of the present disclosure is expressed in mammalian cells using a mammalian expression vector. For suitable expression systems for both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells see, e.g., Chapters 16 and 17 of Sambrook, et al., MOLECULAR CLONING: A LABORATORY MANUAL. 2nd ed., Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., 1989.

A polynucleotide can be a DNA molecule, a cDNA molecule, genomic DNA molecule, or an RNA molecule. A polynucleotide as DNA or RNA can include a sequence wherein T (thymidine) can also be U (uracil). If a nucleotide at a certain position of a polynucleotide is capable of forming a Watson-Crick pairing with a nucleotide at the same position in an anti-parallel DNA or RNA strand, then the polynucleotide and the DNA or RNA molecule are complementary to each other at that position. The polynucleotide and the DNA or RNA molecule are substantially complementary to each other when a sufficient number of corresponding positions in each molecule are occupied by nucleotides that can hybridize with each other in order to effect the desired process.

Transformation of a host cell with recombinant DNA may be carried out by conventional techniques as are well known to those skilled in the art. By “transformation” is meant a permanent or transient genetic change induced in a cell following incorporation of new DNA (i.e., DNA exogenous to the cell).

In another embodiment, the recombinant mammalian expression vector is capable of directing expression of the nucleic acid preferentially in a particular cell type (e.g., tissue-specific regulatory elements are used to express the nucleic acid). Tissue-specific regulatory elements are known in the art. Non-limiting examples of suitable tissue-specific promoters include the albumin promoter (liver-specific; Pinkert, et al., 1987. Genes Dev. 1: 268-277), lymphoid-specific promoters (Calame and Eaton, 1988. Adv. Immunol. 43: 235-275), in particular promoters of T cell receptors (Winoto and Baltimore, 1989. EMBO J. 8: 729-733) and immunoglobulins (Banerji, et al., 1983. Cell 33: 729-740; Queen and Baltimore, 1983. Cell 33: 741-748), neuron-specific promoters (e.g., the neurofilament promoter; Byrne and Ruddle, 1989. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 86: 5473-5477), pancreas-specific promoters (Edlund, et al., 1985. Science 230: 912-916), and mammary gland-specific promoters (e.g., milk whey promoter; U.S. Pat. No. 4,873,316 and European Application Publication No. 264,166). Developmentally-regulated promoters are also encompassed, e.g., the murine hox promoters (Kessel and Gruss, 1990. Science 249: 374-379) and the alpha-fetoprotein promoter (Campes and Tilghman, 1989. Genes Dev. 3: 537-546).

In any of the embodiments, the nucleic acids encoding the modified peptides of the present disclosure can be present as: one or more naked DNAs; one or more nucleic acids disposed in an appropriate expression vector and maintained episomally; one or more nucleic acids incorporated into the host cell's genome; a modified version of an endogenous gene encoding the components of the complex; one or more nucleic acids in combination with one or more regulatory nucleic acid sequences; or combinations thereof. The nucleic acid may optionally comprise a linker peptide or fusion protein component, for example, His-Tag, FLAG-Tag, fluorescent protein, GST, TAT, an antibody portion, a signal peptide, and the like, at the 5′ end, the 3′ end, or at any location within the ORF.

Where the host is prokaryotic, such as E. coli, competent cells which are capable of DNA uptake can be prepared from cells harvested after exponential growth phase and subsequently treated by the CaCl₂ method by procedures well known in the art. Alternatively, MgCl₂, RbCl, liposome, or liposome-protein conjugate can be used. Transformation can also be performed after forming a protoplast of the host cell or by electroporation. These examples are not limiting on the present disclosure; numerous techniques exist for transfecting host cells that are well known by those of skill in the art and which are contemplated as being within the scope of the present disclosure.

When the host is a eukaryote, such methods of transfection with DNA include calcium phosphate co-precipitates, conventional mechanical procedures such as microinjection, electroporation, insertion of a plasmid encased in liposomes, or virus vectors, as well as others known in the art, may be used. The eukaryotic cell may be a yeast cell (e.g., Saccharomyces cerevisiae) or may be a mammalian cell, including a human cell. For long-term, high-yield production of recombinant proteins, stable expression is preferred.

As exemplified herein, the modified peptides of the present disclosure find application in inhibiting the expression or activity of AKT and/or other kinases (e.g., as determined by phosphorylation of the Ser-21 GSK-3 substrate peptide), wherein kinase inhibition results in a decrease in cell proliferation and a progressive dose-dependent loss of the existing neurites, as well as the inhibition of new neurite formation. Accordingly, not only does the present disclosure embrace the use of the modified peptides for decreasing proliferation of a cell, the present disclosure provides methods for preventing or treating cancer or a neurodegenerative or psychiatric disease or condition.

AKT-mediated control of cell cycle progression is well-established in the art (see, e.g., Brazil, et al. (2004) supra). AKT regulates the cell cycle by facilitating G1/S transition and the initiation of M phase (Collado, et al. (2000) J. Biol. Chem. 275:21960-21968; Datta, et al. (1999) Genes Dev. 13:2905-2927; Franke, et al. (1997) Cell 88:435-437). AKT also phosphorylates MDM2 which causes its translocation to the nucleus, where it promotes the degradation of p53, leading to a reduction in the transcription of p21^(Cip1) mRNA. In the nucleus, FOXO transcription factors increase the transcription of p27^(Kip1), but this function is inhibited by AKT phosphorylation, which causes FOXO proteins to remain in the cytoplasm. The cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitor p21^(Cip1) and p27^(Kip1) proteins can also be phosphorylated by AKT, leading to their accumulation in the cytoplasm, which relieves the inhibition of CDK2 activity and facilitates G1/S transition (Blain and Massague (2002) supra; Liang, et al. (2002) supra; Shin, et al. (2002) supra; Viglietto, et al. (2002) supra). AKT also drives the cell cycle to M phase by phosphorylating a checkpoint protein with FHA and ring finger domains (CHFR) and Myt1 (Brazil, et al. (2004) supra; Okumura, et al. (2002) supra). In view of the fact that AKT plays an important role in regulation of multiple checkpoints during the cell cycle, and hyperactivity of AKT is known to be involved in the most prevalent human malignancies including breast cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer, gastrointestinal tumors, pancreatic cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, thyroid cancer and CNS malignancies (such as glioblastoma and gliomas), the modified peptides of the present disclosure can be used for inhibiting cancer cell proliferation, e.g., in the prevention and treatment of cancer.

Glioblastoma is the most common primary central nervous system tumor in adults. Mitotic activity in glioblastoma is abundant, and vascular endothelial proliferation is prominent. Both of these two mechanisms are tightly regulated by AKT through phosphorylation and protein-protein interaction (Brazil, et al. (2002) supra). These features cause a rapid growth rate and most patients die within one year of diagnosis (Underwood (2004) General and systemic pathology. 4^(th) Edition). AKT signaling pathway is implicated in tumor initiation and maintenance of glioblastoma and gliomas (Lefranc, et al. (2005) J. Clin. Oncol. 23:2411-22; Kesari, et al. (2005) Curr. Neurol. Neurosci. Rep. 5:186-97) and targeting AKT is an effective strategy for treating of brain tumors (Kesari, et al. (2005) supra). Inhibitors of AKT have been investigated in clinical trials for treatment of glioblastoma (Carpentier (2005) Bull. Cancer 92:355-9). The effect of monoclonal antibodies and small peptidic hormones for local targeting of malignant gliomas has been investigated (Merlo, et al. (2003) Acta Neurochir. Suppl. 88:83-91) with significant tumor uptake by small peptidic hormone receptors.

The exemplary modified peptides disclosed herein were found to be effectively absorbed and distributed throughout mouse brain tissue and specifically inhibit AKT following local administration of a very small dose of this peptide (only 1 μL of mM solution). The modified peptides also potently inhibit cell proliferation of cancerous cells derived from different malignant human cell lines. Considering the combination of the three effects of the modified peptides, i.e., distribution in brain tissue, inhibition of AKT and other peptides in vivo, and inhibition of cell proliferation, the modified peptides will be useful in treatment of human CNS tumors, as well as a number of other human malignancies, in which these three processes have been shown to play an important role in pathology development and poor prognosis. In treatment of CNS tumors, the modified peptides of the present disclosure have the advantage of being delivered directly into the tumor site using advanced and minimally invasive neurosurgical techniques. Current treatments of CNS tumors usually involve either invasive neurosurgery with potential serious post-surgical complications or intensive radiotherapy.

Activation of the AKT pathway has also been demonstrated to contribute to the pathogenesis of prostate cancer (Culig, et al. (2005) Endocr. Relat. Cancer 12:229-44), and inhibition of this signaling pathway is known to have therapeutic implications in human prostate adenocarcinoma (Wang, et al. (2004) Neuron 38:915-928). Therefore, targeting AKT with the modified peptides of the present disclosure can be used in treatment of prostate cancer as well.

AKT is also documented as being involved in breast cancer. While peptide-based vaccines are commonly used for targeting breast cancer (Disis, et al. (2004) Breast Dis. 20:3-11), the modified peptides of the present disclosure can be used as primary or adjunct therapeutic agents in the treatment of breast cancer.

A method for inhibiting cell proliferation generally involves the step of contacting a cell (e.g., a cancer cell) with an effective amount of the modified peptide (e.g., in a pharmaceutical composition), thereby reducing the proliferation of the cell as compared to a cell not contacted with the modified peptide. Means for monitoring the reduction of cell proliferation are disclosed herein.

In the context of cancer cell proliferation and cancer prevention or treatment, an effective amount is considered an amount that decreases or inhibits cancer cell proliferation such that tumor development is arrested and/or tumor size is reduced. Desirably, the agent causes a 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%, 95%, 98%, or 100% decrease in cancer cell proliferation or tumor size when compared to otherwise same conditions wherein the modified peptide is not present.

As used herein, “effective amount” is used to refer to the amount of the modified peptide required to prevent, inhibit the occurrence, or treat (alleviate a symptom to some extent, preferably all of the symptoms) of a disease state. The effective dose depends on the type of disease, the composition used, the route of administration, the type of animal being treated, the physical characteristics of the specific animal under consideration (e.g., age, weight, gender), concurrent medication, and other factors which those skilled in the medical arts will recognize. Generally, an amount between 0.001 mg/kg and 1000 mg/kg body weight/day of active ingredients is administered dependent upon potency. The inventions of the present disclosure includes pharmaceutical compositions that include therapeutically- or prophylactically-effective amounts of a therapeutic and a pharmaceutically-acceptable excipient.

In an embodiment, the active compounds are prepared with carriers that will protect the compound against rapid elimination from the body, such as a controlled release formulation, including implants and microencapsulated delivery systems. Biodegradable, biocompatible polymers can be used, such as ethylene vinyl acetate, polyanhydrides, polyglycolic acid, collagen, polyorthoesters, and polylactic acid. Methods for preparation of such formulations will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The materials can also be obtained commercially from Alza Corporation and Nova Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Liposomal suspensions (including liposomes targeted to infected cells with monoclonal antibodies to viral antigens) can also be used as pharmaceutically acceptable carriers. These can be prepared according to methods known to those skilled in the art, for example, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,522,811.

It is especially advantageous to formulate oral or parenteral compositions in dosage unit form for ease of administration and uniformity of dosage. Dosage unit form as used herein refers to physically discrete units suited as unitary dosages for the subject to be treated; each unit containing a predetermined quantity of active compound calculated to produce the desired therapeutic effect in association with the required pharmaceutical carrier. The specifications for the dosage unit forms of the present disclosure are dictated by and directly dependent on the unique characteristics of the active compound and the particular therapeutic effect to be achieved, and the limitations inherent in the art of compounding such an active compound for the treatment of individuals.

The nucleic acid molecules of the present disclosure can be inserted into vectors and used as gene therapy vectors. Gene therapy vectors can be delivered to a subject by, for example, intravenous injection, local administration (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,328,470) or by stereotactic injection (see, e.g., Chen, et al., 1994. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 91: 3054-3057). The pharmaceutical preparation of the gene therapy vector can include the gene therapy vector in an acceptable diluent, or can comprise a slow release matrix in which the gene delivery vehicle is imbedded. Alternatively, where the complete gene delivery vector can be produced intact from recombinant cells, e.g., retroviral vectors, the pharmaceutical preparation can include one or more cells that produce the gene delivery system. The pharmaceutical compositions can be included in a container, pack, or dispenser together with instructions for administration.

Toxicity and therapeutic efficacy of such compounds can be determined by standard pharmaceutical procedures in cell cultures or experimental animals, e.g., for determining the LD₅₀ (the dose lethal to 50% of the population) and the ED₅₀ (the dose therapeutically effective in 50% of the population). The dose ratio between toxic and therapeutic effects is the therapeutic index and it can be expressed as the ratio LD₅₀/ED₅₀. Compounds that exhibit large therapeutic indices are preferred. While compounds that exhibit toxic side effects may be used, care should be taken to design a delivery system that targets such compounds to the site of affected tissue in order to minimize potential damage to uninfected cells and, thereby, reduce side effects. The data obtained from the cell culture assays and animal studies can be used in formulating a range of dosage for use in humans. The dosage of such compounds lies preferably within a range of circulating concentrations that include the ED₅₀ with little or no toxicity. The dosage may vary within this range depending upon the dosage form employed and the route of administration utilized. For any compound used in the method of the present disclosure, the therapeutically effective dose can be estimated initially from cell culture assays. A dose may be formulated in animal models to achieve a circulating plasma concentration range that includes the IC₅₀ (i.e., the concentration of the test compound which achieves a half-maximal inhibition of symptoms) as determined in cell culture. Such information can be used to more accurately determine useful doses in humans. Levels in plasma may be measured, for example, by high performance liquid chromatography.

In so far as the instant compositions decrease or inhibit cancer cell proliferation, individuals having or at risk of having a cancer such as breast cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer, gastrointestinal tumors, pancreatic cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, thyroid cancer or CNS malignancies (such as glioblastoma and gliomas) would benefit by receiving treatment with a the modified peptide of the present disclosure or a composition including the same. Individuals having cancer generally refer to patients who have been diagnosed with cancer, whereas individuals at risk of having cancer may have a family history of cancer or exhibit one or more signs or symptoms associated with cancer (e.g., a tumor, increased pain perception, weakness). Such individuals, upon receiving treatment with a composition of the present disclosure, are expected to exhibit a decrease in the signs or symptoms associated with cancer and a general improvement in the quality of life and life expectancy. It is contemplated that not only will the instant compositions be useful in the prevention or treatment of malignancies, said compositions will also find application in the treatment of benign tumors, e.g., benign CNS tumors. While benign CNS tumors do not metastasize, they can cause significant complications and disabilities as the result of their high growth tendency in the skull and putting pressure on the important CNS structures. Thus, treatment with the instant compositions would provide relief from such symptoms.

Given the enhanced cell targeting activity of a modified peptide of the present disclosure, particular embodiments embrace the use of the modified peptide as a moiety for targeted delivery of a therapeutic or contrast agent to a cell or tissue. As such, the instant modified peptide can be operatively linked, e.g., via a covalent attachment, to a chemotherapy or therapeutic agent to increase cellular targeting and uptake of the agent as compared to the unconjugated agent. Alternatively, the modified peptide can be attached to the surface of a drug-loaded liposome or nanoparticle for facilitating delivery of drug to a cell. Agents which can be targeted to a cell (e.g., a cancer cell or neuron) using the modified peptides of the present disclosure include cytotoxic agents such as Taxol, Cytochalasin B, Gramicidin D, Ethidium Bromide, Emetine, Mitomycin, Etoposide, Tenoposide, Vincristine, Vinblastine, camptothecin (CPT), Colchicin, Doxorubicin, Daunorubicin, Mitoxantrone, Mithramycin, Actinomycin D, 1-Dehydrotestosterone, Glucocorticoids, Procaine, Tetracaine, Lidocaine, Propranolol, and Puromycin; therapeutic agents including antimetabolites (e.g., Methotrexate, 6-Mercaptopurine, 6-Thioguanine, Cytarabine, 5-Fluorouracil, Decarbazine), alkylating agents (e.g., Mechlorethamine, Thiotepa, Chlorambucil, Melphalan, Carmustine (BCNU), Lomustine (CCNU), Cyclophosphamide, Busulfan, Dibromomannitol, Streptozotocin, Mitomycin C, Cis-Dichlorodiamine Platinum (II) (DDP), Cisplatin), anthracyclines (e.g., Daunorubicin (formerly Daunomycin) and Doxorubicin), antibiotics (e.g., Dactinomycin (formerly Actinomycin), Bleomycin, Mithramycin, and Anthramycin (AMC)), anti-inflammatory agents, anti-mitotic agents (e.g., Vincristine and Vinblastine) and selective apoptotic agents such as APTOSYN® (Exisulind), PANZEM™ (2-methoxyestradiol), VELCADE® (bortezomib) a proteasome inhibitor, cytotoxic agents, alkylating agent, antimetabolite, anthracycline, plant alkaloid, topoisomerase inhibitor, antibody, kinase inhibitor, or other antitumor agents, radioisotopes, therapeutic nucleic acids or polypeptides, fluorescent markers, paramagnetic ions, contrast reagents, metal chelators, toxins, hormones such as steroids; antimetabolites such as cytosine arabinoside, fluorouracil, methotrexate or aminopterin; anthracycline; mitomycin C; vinca alkaloids; demecolcine; etoposide; mithramycin; or alkylating agents such as chlorambucil or melphalan, chemotherapeutic agents, such as anti-tumor drugs, nucleic acids, nucleotides, cytokines, antimetabolites, alkylating agents, antineoplastic agents, peptide or pseudopeptide chelating agents (e.g., linker-chelator, glycyl-tyrosyl-(N, e-diethylenetriaminepentaacetic-acid)-lysine hydrochloride (GYK-DTPA-HCl), radioactive compounds, diphtheria toxin (chain A), ricin toxin (chain A), adriamycin, chlorambucil, daunorubicin, or pokeweed antiviral protein to enhance their tumoricidal effectiveness, nuclear magnetic spin-resonance isotopes, metallic ions, and the like. However, as would be understood by those of skill in the art, the present disclosure is not limited to any particular type or class of therapeutic agent, or any particular disease to be treated.

Methods for performing conjugation of the agents listed above to a peptide or pseudopeptide are well known or readily determinable, and include, for example, conjugation to amino acid side chains, functional groups, carbohydrates, lipids, and other small molecules. See for example, Goldenberg, D. M. et al, New England J. Med., 298:1384-1388 (1978), Goldenberg, D. M. et al, J. A. M. A., 250:630-635 (1983), Goldenberg. D. M. et al, Gastroenterol., 84:524-532 (1983), Siccardi, A. G. et al, Cancer Res., 46:4817-4822 (1986). Epenetos, A. A. et al, Cancer, 55:984-987 (1985), Philben, V. J. et al, Cancer, 57:571-576 (1986), Chiou, R. et al, Cancer Res., 45:6140-6146 (1985) and Hwang, K. M. et al, J. Natl. Cancer Inst., 76:849-855 (1986), all of which are specifically incorporated herein by reference.

Examples of markers which can be conjugated to the antibody are well known to those skilled in the art and include substances which can be detected by nuclear magnetic resonance imaging, i.e., nuclear magnetic spin-resonance isotopes, and radioactive substances. A preferred example of a nuclear magnetic spin-resonance isotope is gadolinium (Gd). Suitable examples of radioactive markers include I¹²⁵, I¹³¹, I¹²³, In¹¹¹, In¹¹³, Ga⁶⁷, Ga⁶⁸, Ru⁹⁷, Ru¹⁰³, Hg¹⁹⁷, Hg²⁰³, and Tc⁹⁹. Detection of radioactive markers is by means of a gamma scintillation camera or the like as described in the references cited above. Nuclear magnetic imaging devices can be used to detect nuclear magnetic spin-resonance isotope markers.

In general, a modified peptide of the present disclosure has an amphipathic nature with a net positive charge. Generally, amphipathic structures play an important role in mediating the interaction of peptides and proteins with membranes (Sharadadevi, et al. (2005) Proteins 59:791-801). Because primary amphipathic cell penetrating peptides have been used for the efficient intracellular delivery of large hydrophilic molecules such as oligonucleotides and proteins, they have been used in drug delivery (Plenat, et al. (2005) Biophys. J. 89:4300-4309). It has been shown that in amphipathic helices there is a strong preference for Arg or Lys to occur (Sharadadevi, et al. (2005) supra). There is also a relationship between the net charge and average hydrophobic moments, the determining factor for the membrane seeking properties. A net positive charge appears to favor higher hydrophobic moment than a net negative charge (Sharadadevi, et al. (2005) supra). Like known cell penetrating peptides, the amphipathic structure of the modified peptide can facilitate penetration into the cell, targeting AKT and PKAc and other kinases inside the cell and exerting its biological activity. Mutations of Thr-14 or Tyr-17 to Arg generates a higher net positive charge thereby increasing the average hydrophobic moments for the modified peptide and augmenting its effect, whereas the mutations of Thr-8 or 10 to the negatively charged Asp causes a less positive net charge, thereby moderating biological activity. Accordingly, the modified peptides of the present disclosure are useful not only as anticancer agents, but also for targeted delivery of an additional therapeutic agents to a cell.

Several other peptide modifications in the sequence of ZaTa improved its activity. Examples of such modification are replacing single, two or three amino-acids, replacing natural amino-acids with similar unusual ones, such as changing Try to Nal, or Lys to Orn, or replacing the natural hydrophilic residues such as Thr or Tyr to halogenated amino acid derivatives such as 4-Cl Tyr or 4-F Tyr or 4-Cl-Phe or 4-F-Phe.

As in cancer, an increase in the activity of AKT is also known to be associated with different types of Alzheimer's disease (Blain and Massague, (2002) supra; Griffin, et al. (2005) supra; Liang, et al. (2002) supra; Shin, et al. (2002) supra; Viglietto, et al. (2002) supra), wherein reduced AKT activity is related to schizophrenia (Emamian, et al. (2004) supra). Moreover, the PKA signaling pathway has a novel role for in schizophrenia as well (Millar, et al. (2005) supra).

Regarding neuronal synapse activity and neurodegeneration, ion channels have been identified as a novel class of PKB/Akt substrates, pinpointing synaptic plasticity as a biological process regulated by this kinase. In particular, the (32 subunit of the type A γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA_(A)) receptor is an AKT substrate in vitro and in vivo (Wang, et al. (2002) Neuron 38:915-928). This protein is a member of a ligand-gated chloride ion channel that mediates synaptic transmission at most inhibitory synapses in the mammalian brain. Drugs such as benzodiazapines and barbiturates act on the GABA_(A) receptor to mediate anti-psychotic effects. AKT-mediated phosphorylation of Ser-410 increases the number of GABA_(A) receptors on the plasma membrane surface, thereby increasing the efficacy of receptor-mediated inhibition at GABAergic synapses (Brazil, et al. (2004) supra).

Studies in humans provide evidence of increased AKT activation and hyperphosphorylation of critical AKT substrates in Alzheimer's disease (AD) brain (Griffin, et al. (2005) supra). Differential distribution of AKT and phospho-AKT is observed in AD temporal cortex neurons compared with control neurons, which is accompanied with increased levels of active phosphorylated-AKT in particulate fractions, and significant decreases in AKT levels in AD cytosolic fractions, causing increased activation of AKT (phosphorylated-AKT/total AKT ratio) in AD. Further, significant increases in the levels of phosphorylation of total AKT substrates, including GSK3β(Ser-9), tau(Ser-214), mTOR(Ser-2448), and decreased levels of the AKT target, p27^(kip1), is reported in AD temporal cortex compared with controls. Moreover, a significant loss and altered distribution of the major negative regulator of AKT, PTEN (phosphatase and tensin homologue deleted on chromosome 10), is found in AD neurons. Loss of phosphorylated-AKT and PTEN-containing neurons is observed in hippocampal CA1 at the end stages of AD (Griffin, et al. (2005) supra). Enzymatic activity of AKT in mid-temporal and mid-frontal cortices from AD cases and matched controls has also been analyzed (Rickle, et al. (2004) Neuroreport 15:955-959). The results of this analysis indicated that the activity of AKT (GSK-3α/β fusion protein phosphorylation by immunoprecipitated AKT) was significantly increased in temporal cortex soluble fractions from AD compared with non-disease controls and positive disease controls with another neurodegenerative disease. Moreover, AKT activity in temporal cortex soluble fractions was positively correlated with Braak staging for neurofibrillary changes. Strong phospho-AKT immunoreactivity was shown in AD pyramidal neurons undergoing degeneration and in reactive astroglia. Given that PKAc fragments can potently decrease AKT substrate phosphorylation in the brain, inhibition of AKT could reverse the observed changes in humans with AD thereby providing therapeutic benefit in the treatment of AD.

Many inherited neurodegenerative diseases are caused by the expansion of a CAG repeat that produces a long polyglutamine (polyQ) tract in proteins, the length of which is directly correlated with the severity of the disease (Emamian, et al. (2003) Neuron 38:375-387; Chen, et al (2003) Cell 113:457-68). AKT substrates that mediate the pathophysiology of spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 (SCA1) and Huntington's disease have been identified (Humbert, et al. (2002) Dev. Cell 2:831-837; Emamian, et al. (2003) supra; Chen, et al. (2003) supra). Toxicity of the mutant proteins in vivo is directly mediated by phosphorylation of Ser-776 (Emamian, et al. (2003) supra). Replacing Ser-776 with Ala completely averts the pathology in vivo, even in the presence of a long polyglutamine tract. Therefore, while polyglutamine expansion is required for the disease to develop, it is not sufficient. Based on this analysis, Ser-776 was identified as a site of AKT phosphorylation, a molecular event that is essential for the interaction of 14-3-3 with the polyQ-expanded form ataxin-1 (Chen, et al. (2003) supra), wherein binding to 14-3-3 triggers the formation of inclusion bodies of ataxin-1, mediating its neurotoxicity. In this regard, PKB/Akt-mediated phosphorylation of the mutant form of ataxin-1 in SCA1 triggers 14-3-3 binding, gradual accumulation of this protein, and consequent neurodegeneration.

Similar to SCA1, Huntington's disease is characterized by an expanded polyQ repeat in the huntingtin protein, which leads to an aggregation of mutated protein in the nucleus and selective apoptosis of striatal neurons in the brain (Saudou, et al. (1998) Cell 95:55-66). In contrast to its role in SCA1, however, AKT positively regulates the survival of striatal neurons lost during the degeneration seen in Huntington's disease. Both insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) treatment and AKT activation of striatal neurons inhibits cell death and intranuclear inclusion formation mediated by the mutated huntingtin protein (Humbert, et al. (2002) supra). Phosphorylation of the mutated form of huntingtin by PKB/Akt on Ser-421 is required for IGF-1-mediated inhibition of intranuclear inclusion formation and cell death, indicating that compromised AKT activity could accentuate the progression of Huntington's disease. In this regard, analysis of AKT protein in brain samples from individuals affected with Huntington's disease reveals the presence of both full-length AKT (60 kDa) and a shorter form (49 kDa) predicted to be generated by caspase-3-mediated cleavage of the full-length kinase (Humbert, et al. (2002) supra).

AKT signaling in neurons of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis has also been determined (Kaspar, et al. (2003) supra). IGF-1 stimulates the activity of PKB/Akt in the spinal cord and prolongs the lifespan of SOD1 mice by increasing the survival of motor neurons in this setting, indicating that administration of IGF-1 could be of benefit in the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Kaspar, et al. (2003) supra).

Direct evidence has been provided for the role of AKT in axonal growth and the acceleration of axonal regeneration (Markus, et al. (2002) supra; Namikawa, et al. (2000) Nat. Cell Biol. 4:111-116). Furthermore, PKA is also shown to play a role in the axonal pathfinding of zebrafish olfactory sensory neurons (Yoshida, et al. (2002) J. Neurosci. 22:4964-4972), as well as the ability of axons to regenerate their growth cones (Chierzi, et al. (2005) supra). Having demonstrated that endogenous PKAc co-localizes with AKT in N2a neurons along the neurite length, as well as in the neurite outgrowth zone, and treatment with the modified peptides of the present disclosure results in a progressive dose-dependent loss of the existing neurites, as well as the inhibition of new neurite formation, methods for modulating neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases and conditions is also embraced by the present disclosure. In particular, based on the role of AKT in the pathogenesis of SCA1, Huntington's disease, ALS and AD, the modified peptides and their compositions are useful in the prevention and treatment of these neurodegenerative diseases.

In another aspect, the present disclosure also provides a method for preventing or treating an immunodeficiency disorder, e.g., AIDS, using the modified peptides (e.g., in a pharmaceutical composition). As a prophylactic or therapeutic, an effective amount of the instant composition is administered to a patient having (e.g., showing signs or symptoms of disease) or at risk of having (e.g., genetically predisposed) an immunodeficiency disorder, e.g., AIDS, to prevent (i.e., inhibit or delay the development or onset of) or treat (i.e., ameliorate the signs or symptoms of) the disease or disorder. Immunodeficiency diseases or conditions embraced by the present disclosure include, but are not limited to, AIDS, leukemia, lymphoma, viral diseases, e.g., hepatitis, multiple myeloma, ataxia-telangiectasia, Chediak-Higashi syndrome, combined immunodeficiency disease, complement deficiencies, DiGeorge syndrome, hypogammaglobulinemia, Job syndrome, leukocyte adhesion defects, panhypogammaglobulinemia, Bruton's disease, congenital agammaglobulinemia, selective deficiency of IgA, and Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome.

In another aspect, the present disclosure also provides a method for preventing or treating a neurodegenerative disease or disorder using the modified peptides (e.g., in a pharmaceutical composition). As a prophylactic or therapeutic, an effective amount of the instant composition is administered to a patient having (e.g., showing signs or symptoms of disease) or at risk of having (e.g., genetically predisposed) a neurodegenerative disease or disorder to prevent (i.e., inhibit or delay the development or onset of) or treat (i.e., ameliorate the signs or symptoms of) the disease or disorder. Neurodegenerative diseases or conditions embraced by the present disclosure include, but are not limited to, SCA1, Huntington's disease, ALS and AD.

Large-scale gene therapy clinical trials for treatment of Parkinson disease are known (Howard (2003) Nat. Biotechnol. 21(10):1117-8). In these trials, a gene is cloned into a recombinant expression vector that is known to be deregulated in the disease and is delivered locally to the site of pathology in the brain. Accordingly, it is contemplated that these gene therapy approaches in clinical trials make it possible to use the same settings for the delivery of DNA molecules encoding PKAc proteins or fragments into the site of pathology. This approach can be used to overexpress PKAc proteins or fragments in tumor cells thereby preventing further division and growth, and eventually, resulting in apoptosis and death. As another example, expression of PKAc proteins or fragments in Purkinje cells of the cerebellum using a Purkinje cell-specific promoter (such as PCP-2) and an adenoviral vector system, could be used to inhibit AKT and the phosphorylation of ataxin-1 thereby inhibiting the binding of ataxin-1 with 14-3-3 proteins. As a result, further progression of the pathology is prevented by blocking an upstream critical signal that is required for the development of pathology. As AKT knock out mice do not exhibit a cerebellar dysfunction phenotype, inhibition of AKT in Purkinje cells is not expected to cause side effects, since AKT does not seem to have a crucial role in normal function of cerebellum.

The inventions of the present disclosure is described in greater detail by the following non-limiting examples.

EXAMPLES

In the examples below, the exemplary compound(s) and/or exemplary composition(s) refer to some compounds of Table 1, as well as all other exemplary compounds described in the present disclosure, and compositions comprising the same.

Analysis of the in vitro activity of the Exemplary compounds: The exemplary compositions were selected among several variants of ZaTa peptide with significant modifications to improve its activity. The Exemplary compounds are cell penetrating peptides that passes the barrier of cell membrane, can inhibit multiple important kinases in cell proliferation (including but not limited to AKT, Abl and P70S6K), can induce apoptosis, and can potently inhibit cell proliferation. A series of in vitro assays to confirm that the activities of the Exemplary compounds was performed. More specifically, the following were tested: the ability of each Exemplary compound to enter into the cell, the kinase inhibitory profile of each Exemplary compound by in-vitro and cell-based kinase assays, its effect on the induction of apoptosis, as well as its potency for the inhibition of cell proliferation. More importantly, the efficacy of the exemplary compounds was tested on animal models of glioblastoma (GBM), and analyzed the toxicity, stability and solubility profiles using a number of in-vitro and rodent studies. The studies described herein confirmed that the activities of the Exemplary compounds are well preserved and highly improved during the lead optimization process. More importantly, the studies proved that the Exemplary compounds are significantly superior to the existing drugs in terms of efficacy and toxicity profiles.

Inhibition of the kinase activity by the Exemplary compound: To test the multi-kinase inhibitory profile of the Exemplary compounds using in-vitro kinase assays, the kinase inhibition profiles of the exemplary compounds were tested against ˜115 different kinases involved in cell proliferation. This kinase profiling showed that besides AKT1, AKT2, p70S6K and Abl, several other kinases can be inhibited in nano-molar range, by different variants of these compounds. More specifically, the kinases that were inhibited within the nano-molar range of concentration of different compounds were: AKT1 (PKB alpha), AKT2 (PKB beta), MAP3K8 (COT), MST4, AURKB (Aurora B), ROCK1, RPS6KB1 (p70S6K), CDC42 BPA (MRCKA), BRAF, RAF1 (cRAF) Y340D Y341D, SGK (SGK1), MAP4K4 (HGK), AURKA (Aurora A), AURKC (Aurora C), BRAF V599E, CHEK1 (CHK1), GSG2 (Haspin), CHEK2 (CHK2), FGR, IKBKB (IKK beta), CDK7/cyclin H/MNAT1, and CDC42 BPB (MRCKB). A cell-based kinase assay was designed to check the molecular targets of the exemplary compounds in human cancer cells. U251 human glioblastoma cells were treated with the exemplary compounds at several concentrations, and with controls, for different time intervals of 20 min, 2 hours and 24 hours and the phosphorylation or total protein levels of several substrates were measured at a known phosphorylation site for each kinase. Moreover, the total protein levels of few potential intracellular targets of a selected lead was also measured. A decrease in the phosphorylation level of each substrate at a known phosphorylation site would reflect the inhibition of the kinase activity by the Exemplary compound. FIG. 1 shows representative immunoblots from cell-based assays by probing with antibodies that recognize a PI3K-P110, or phospho-PDK1 (Ser-241), total AKT1, phospho-P53 (Ser-46), phospho-AKT1 (Thr-308), p-CRAF (Ser-259), phospho-Aurora A (Thr-288), or total Aurora A. Cells based assays after treating the U251 human glioblastoma cells with different concentrations of vehicle, or an Exemplary compound from 5 uM to 40 uM at different time intervals of 30 min, 2 hours or 24 hours, confirmed some of the targets of the exemplary compounds by in-vitro kinase profiling and showed that the Exemplary compounds are capable of targeting several kinases and inhibit their activities inside the cells as well in. This experiment also showed that p53 is also downstream target of the Exemplary compounds (FIG. 1 ).

Cell penetration activity of the Exemplary compounds: Several cancer cell lines were tested to study the cell penetration capabilities of the modified exemplary compounds. This experiment showed that the modified peptides are still capable of entering into the cells. In U251 cells for example, after 2 hours of treatment with a fluorescently labeled form of the Exemplary compound, ˜10-15% of the cells stain positively with the Exemplary compound (images not shown). After 3 days of treatment with the Exemplary compound this percentage significantly increases to 90%. The result of this experiment shows the stability of the cell penetration property of the Exemplary compound during the optimization process.

Induction of apoptosis by the Exemplary compound: An important aspect of the Exemplary compounds' activity is their ability to induce apoptosis in malignant cancer cells. The ability of the Exemplary compounds were tested to make sure the new modifications preserved the apoptosis inducing ability of the peptide. U251 human glioblastoma cells were treated with the exemplary compounds for a few time intervals. FIG. 2 shows the apoptosis and survival of U251 glioblastoma cells at different time intervals following the treatment with an Exemplary compounds. Equal number of U251 human glioblastoma cells (5×10⁵) were plated on coverslips and treated with either vehicle (top panel) or with an Exemplary compound (bottom panels) for 20 min, one, two or three days. Fluorescent TUNEL (green) assay was performed to visualize the apoptotic cells and DAPI staining was used to visualize the nuclei of all cells (blue). Indirect immunofluorescent staining of Cleaved-Caspase 3 (red) was performed as another marker of apoptosis. Cells treated with the vehicle grew to a much higher confluency compared to those treated with the Exemplary compound (compared the DAPI signal of the top and bottom panels). The confocal image (20×) is the same Z step showing three channels separately (the first three columns) and the merged image (last column). The images in FIG. 2 show a time dependent increase in apoptosis rate of the cells after treatment, after 3 days of treatment almost 100% of cells are apoptotic shown by both Tunel (green) and increased Cleaved-Caspase 3 (red).

Quantitative analysis of the cell density and apoptosis rate at different time intervals: Equal cell numbers were plated on coverslips and were treated with the Exemplary compounds and vehicle for different time intervals. Cells were stained with DAPI and Tunel and analyzed with confocal microscope. FIG. 3(A) shows histogram bars reflecting the average number of total cells left on coverslips (DAPI positive cells) counted on five separate confocal fields. FIG. 3 (B) is the histogram bars showing the average percent of apoptotic cells calculated by dividing the number of Tunel positive cells to the total cells left on coverslips (DAPI positive cells) counted on five separate confocal fields. Cells treated with the vehicle constantly showed a higher density over time that reached to approximately full confluency at 72 hours (not shown), while cells treated with the Exemplary compounds consistently showed a significant decrease in the cell density over time and a time-dependent increase in the number of apoptotic cells, to the extent that almost 100% of the cells were apoptotic after 72 hours of treatment (FIG. 3 ).

Inhibition of cell proliferation by the Exemplary compounds: The most important activity of the Exemplary compounds are inhibition of cell proliferation. Therefore, the effect of three Exemplary compounds on the cell proliferation rate of several cancer cell types was measured. FIG. 4 shows the IC50s of the Exemplary compounds in human breast, lung, blood and skin cancer cells. A representative plate of few human cancer cell lines are shown in this figure, including the metastatic human breast cancer cells (BT-549 and MDA-MB-468), human acute promyelocytic leukemia (HL-60), a Multiple Myeloma cancer cell line (RPMI-8226), a small-cell lung cancer cell line (DMS-114), a human melanoma cancer cell line (SK-ML-5). Cell were treated for three days with three Exemplary compounds, the vehicle (PBS), or controls of other kinase inhibitor compounds in clinical trial (MK-2206), or in clinical use (Imatinib or Gleevec), serially diluted from 50 μM to 0.7 μM. This experiments shows the superior efficacy and a nano-molar range of IC-50 of the Exemplary compounds compared to the existing class of drugs in the market or in latest stages of the clinical trials (FIG. 4 ). MTT cell proliferation assay were also performed to test the anti-cell proliferative activities of the Exemplary compounds and the Promega Cell Titer-Glo® assay to measure the IC-50 on several GBM cell lines. The IC-50 of the Exemplary compounds on six different glioblastoma cells, including U87, U251, SNB-75, SF-268, SF-295, and SF-539, was between 0.2 to 2.5 μM, and between 0.6 to 1.2 μM on N2a neuroblastoma cells. This IC-50 is an order of magnitude better than the IC-50 of Temodar® on the same cell lines (Sun et al., 2012, Torres et al., 2011, Milano et al., 2009, Kanzawa et al., 2004). The IC-50 of Temodar®, a leading brain tumor drug currently in the market, is 421-1021 μM on glioblastoma cells and 602 μM on Neuroblastoma cells (Sun et al., 2012, Torres et al., 2011, Milano et al., 2009, Kanzawa et al., 2004). The IC-50 reported for Gleevec is 15.7-18.7 μM and 9-13 μM on glioblastoma and neuroblastoma cell lines, respectively (Beppu et al., 2004, Kinsella et al., 2011, Kinsella et al., 2012).

Comparative efficacy studies with few FDA approved multiple-kinase inhibitors: To compare the efficacy of the Exemplary compound with other FDA approved multi-kinase inhibitor drugs in clinical use, the IC50 of the Exemplary compounds was measured on human cells lines of liver cancer (HCC), pancreatic cancer, and metastatic breast cancer, and compared it to the IC50 of Sorafenib (approved for HCC), Lapatinib (approved for breast cancer), Sunitinib and Erlotinib (approved for pancreatic cancer). The data showed a highly superior efficacy and significantly lower IC50s of the Exemplary compounds compared to Sorafenib, Sunitinib, Erlotinib and Lapatinib for the same FDA approved indications.

Inhibition of tumor growth by the Exemplary compounds in animal models: To test the efficacy of the Exemplary compounds in animal models, and to test its ability to suppress tumor growth locally, flank xenografts of glioblastoma (GBM), hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and metastatic breast cancer were generated in female Nu/Nu mice of ˜6 weeks of age. Once tumors reached the volume of ˜100 mm³, animals were randomly divided to two groups of vehicle vs. the compound treated, approximately eight animals per each group. Tumor sizes were measured by caliper, before the injections took place, at indicated time intervals following the injections, and shown in FIG. 5A for GBM, FIG. 5B for HCC, and FIG. 5C for the metastatic breast cancer. During the trials, animals were closely monitored in terms of the weight loss and any signs of toxicity. Every three days, animals were administered a single dose of 50 mg/kg, in a 100 ul volume, of the Exemplary compound or 100 ul of saline, intratumorally. The results of the trial are presented in FIG. 5 . Animals tolerated the dose of 50 mg/kg very well, without any weight loss or any visible signs of toxicity. The tumors in animals that received the vehicle continued to grow very fast, but the tumors in Lead treated group did not grow and were visibly much smaller than the control group, as early as day 7 of the trial. In fact the tumors almost completely stopped growing and there was no need to increase the initial dose of the Exemplary compounds. Once tumors in the control group reached the volume of ˜3000 mm³, all animals were sacrificed and the tumors were dissected out (FIG. 5 ). While the animals in the control group looked severely cachectic and ill due to the advanced cancer, the animals in the Exemplary compounds treated group looked healthy and didn't have any signs of toxicity, and their weights were stable. A highly significant difference in tumor volumes was observed between the control and the treated, as early as day seven after the first injection, which continued to be highly significant throughout the trial (FIGS. 5A, 5B, and 5C).

The results of the animal trials were particularly interesting when compared to similar animal efficacy studies of other successful kinase inhibitors that are either in the clinical use, such as Erlotinib (trade name Tarceva), or Lapatinib (trade names Tykerb and Tyverb), or those that are in Phase III of clinical trials, such as MK-2206 (an AKT inhibitor). Erlotinib is a receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor, which acts on the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), and Lapatinib is a dual tyrosine kinase inhibitor which interrupts the HER2/neu and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) pathways. The study of Hirai et al has compared the efficacies of MK-2206, Erlotinib, and Lapatinib, either as single compound individually, or in combination therapy with one another, in xenograft models. Comparing the result of the trials of the Exemplary compound with the results of the efficacy of MK-2206, Erlotinib, and Lapatinib in the study by Hirai et al proves the highly superior efficacy of the Exemplary compounds compared to these successful drugs in a number of ways:

-   -   a) The Exemplary compounds show superior efficacy as a single         composition, none of the three MK-2206, Erlotinib, and Lapatinib         show similar efficacy when are given individually.     -   b) The efficacy of the Exemplary compounds alone is even better         than the combination of MK-2206 and Erlotinib, or the         combination of MK-2206 and Lapatinib. This is an expected         outcome since the Exemplary compounds target few critical         kinases in cell proliferation simultaneously.     -   c) The effective dose of the Exemplary compound (50 mg/kg/three         days) in same animals is much better than the effective dose of         MK-2206 (60, 120 and 360 mg/kg/day, Erlotinib (50 mg/kg/day),         and Lapatinib (100 mg/kg/day). The animal trial on the Exemplary         compound was started at the minimal dose of 50 mg/kg every three         days and this minimal dose was sufficient to fully disrupt tumor         growth.

Stability studies in vitro and in cell lines: The stability of the Exemplary compositions were studied after incubation at different temperatures, including −20° C., 4° C., 25° C. and 40° C., and following several cycles of freeze-thaw, in our non-GLP lab. Following the incubations several samples were drown and visibly examined for physical signs of instability, such as aggregation or precipitation. Samples were also tested in GBM cell lines to see if the IC-50 has changed following the incubation (similar to the experiment presented in FIG. 4 ). This study confirmed the stability of the powder form of the Lead composition for several years at −20° C., for at least one year at 4° C., and for six month at 25° C., and at least twelve week at 40° C. It also tolerated up to ten cycles of freeze-thaw. This was no surprise because the sequence of the peptides are short and does not have any of the amino-acids that cause instability (residues such as Asn or Gln, which are prone to deamidation, or Asp or Trp that are prone to hydrolysis and isomerization, or any free Cys to cause dimerization).

Solubility studies: Due to its amphipathic nature, the Exemplary compositions are highly water soluble, it can be dissolved easily in any water-based solution up to the concentration of 50 mg/ml. They can also dissolve well in a number of organic solutions typically used in the formulation of pharmaceuticals.

Toxicity studies in vitro and in animals: As the first critical test for drug development, the toxicity of the Exemplary compounds was analyzed, both in vitro and in rodents, and compared the results with several other successful kinase inhibitor drugs. These test proved a superior toxicity profile of the Exemplary compounds, compared to several other kinase inhibitor drugs currently in the clinical use.

As the first in-vitro test, the toxicity of the Exemplary compounds was compared with Gleevec, using a 98 well format of the Ames test in bacteria. The Ames test, which is one of the most frequently applied tests in toxicology, is a Salmonella typhimurium reverse mutation assay identification of carcinogens using mutagenicity in bacteria as an endpoint. Almost all new pharmaceutical substances and chemicals used in industry are tested by this assay. The result of this test revealed that the Exemplary compounds are safe at several doses tested in bacteria. As the control assays, positive controls and negative controls and the same doses of Gleevec were tested to validate the accuracy of this test.

As another commonly used in vitro toxicity test, hERG assay was utilized. Numerous structurally and functionally unrelated drugs block the hERG potassium channel. hERG channels are involved in cardiac action potential repolarization, and reduced function of hERG lengthens ventricular action potentials, prolongs the QT interval in an electrocardiogram, and increases the risk for potentially fatal ventricular arrhythmias. In order to reduce the risk of investing resources in a drug candidate that fails preclinical safety studies because of QT prolongation, it is important to screen compounds for activity on hERG channels early in the lead optimization process. The IC-50 of the Exemplary compounds was measured against the hERG channels using the Predictor™ hERG Fluorescence Polarization Assay. This assay showed that the Exemplary compounds do not inhibit hERG at any tested concentrations.

The toxicity of the Exemplary compounds in rodents was also tested by measuring the Maximum Tolerated Dose (MTD) in mice and compared the dose with the successful kinase inhibitors drugs in the market. The single-dose MTD in C57BL/6 mice was determined for a range of doses starting from 25 mg/kg up to 400 mg/kg, with clinical score and weight as endpoints. Animals received a single dose of the Exemplary compounds or Gleevec daily, started at 25 mg/kg on day one, 50 mg/kg on day 3, 100 mg/kg in day 5, 200 mg/kg on day 7, and 400 mg/kg on day 9. Using this dose escalation study, the Exemplary compounds were very well tolerated up to the dose 200 mg/kg, and Gleevec was well tolerated up to the dose of 100 mg/kg. A number of studies that have measured the toxicity of several other chemotherapeutics in the clinic in the C57BL/6 mice (Aston et al., 2017) confirm that this dose is an acceptable MTD in C57BL/6 mice. Comparing this dose with Gleevec's MTD, and also considering the fact that the chronic use of the Exemplary compounds at a single dose of 50 mg/kg/3 days in Nu/Nu mice was well tolerated and completely disrupted tumor growth, the Exemplary compounds will should pass the toxicity in the Phase I clinical trial.

While this disclosure has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be practical exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the inventions of the present disclosure is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A modified peptide comprising a Cys-Cys homodimer of SEQ ID NO:105.
 2. A composition comprising the modified peptide of claim 1 and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier or excipient.
 3. The composition of claim 2, wherein the composition is formulated in a dosage unit form for oral, parental, local, topical, or intratumoral administration.
 4. The composition of claim 2, wherein the composition is formulated in the form of a sterile injectable aqueous or oleaginous suspension.
 5. The composition of claim 2, wherein the composition is formulated for sustained release delivery. 